GermanySyrian asylum-seeker who blew himself up in Ansbach, Germany, was about to be deported

A 27-year old Syrian refugee whose asylum application had been denied, and who was about to be deported to Bulgaria, blew himself up Sunday evening outside a wine bar in the Bavarian town of Ansbach.

Twelve people were injured in the explosion, three of them seriously.

Tobias Plate, a spokesman for Germany’s interior ministry said on Monday, “I can’t say at this moment why the deportation didn’t take place,” said.

The Independent reports that the suspect arrived in Germany two years ago seeking asylum. He was allowed to stay in the country temporarily after his application was rejected. The police said that he had attempted suicide previously and had received psychiatric care.

The Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reports Monday that the Bundeskriminalamtes (BKA), Germany’s equivalent of the FBI, has investigated 410 cases of possible terrorist connections among asylum seekers since the beginning of 2015.

The suspect tried to enter a crowded outdoor area outside the bar, where an open-air wine festival was being held. Security guards did not let him into the cordoned-off area because he did not have a ticket. The suspect then blew an explosive device he was carrying in his backpack.

The past week was a particularly violent week in Germany, with a 21-year-old Syrian refugee knifing a woman to death in the city of Reutlingen on Sunday, and a mentally unstable 17-year old German teenager of Iranian descent, who was obsessed with mass shooting, killing nine people on Friday in a shopping mall in Munich, before turning his gun on himself.

Analysts note that growing anxiety about refugees has been behind the growth of the right-wing populist party group Alternative for Germany (AfD), which calls for an end to immigration of Muslims into Germany, the expulsion of Muslim refugees who had arrived in Germany in the last year-and-a-half, and for limiting the number of Mosques in Germany.