UPDATE 2 – Three seriously injured in ax attack on German train

ADDS DAESH CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR ATTACK

BERLIN (AA) – Police have found a hand-drawn flag of the Daesh terror group in the room of an Afghan migrant who attacked passengers on a train with an ax in southern Germany on Monday night, seriously injuring three people.

Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told public television station ZDF on Tuesday that the motive of the 17-year-old migrant was not yet clear and that it was too early to say whether it was a terrorism-related crime.

“During searches at the room where the suspect was staying recently, a hand-drawn flag of IS [Daesh] has been found,” Herrmann said.

“At this moment, I do not want to make speculation. I would rather say that we would like to carefully investigate everything,” he added.

The suspect was fatally shot by police on Monday night while trying to flee in Heidingsfeld, a small town near the southern German city of Wurzburg.

Herrmann added that Chinese nationals were among the three seriously injured passengers.

He added that two of the passengers had life-threatening injuries.

- Daesh claims responsibility

The attack was claimed by Dash later on Tuesday through the Amaq media outlet linked to the terror group.

“[The] individual who carried out the ax attack in Germany was a soldier of the Islamic State who executed the operation in response to calls to target nations in the coalition fighting the Islamic State,” the agency wrote, citing an unnamed inside source.

Bavarian interior minister Herrmann is expected to hold a news conference later today to outline initial findings from the investigation.