‘Surprise the unbelievers’: 15yo German girl knifed policewoman ‘under orders from ISIS’

From the German edition of The Local and Russia Today

A 15-year-old girl who knifed a policewoman at Hanover’s main train station in February may have been acting under orders from Isis terrorists, media reported on Tuesday. 

It also emerged the girl praised the Paris attacks, calling the date “her favorite day.”

The 15-year-old girl, Safia S., said she had traveled to Turkey and had been in contact with members of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters WDR and NDR reported after they were able to access chat logs between the teenager and another Islamist in the central German city of Hanover. 

These revelations show that Safia may not only have been inspired by the terrorist group, but had also been under their orders to carry out attacks. The conversations on the chat logs reveal that the 15-year-old was persuaded to return home to Germany from Turkey, following a “change of plans” rather than head towards Syria. 

IS members are alleged to have told her that “it would be of great use” and that she could “surprise the unbelievers.” Her mother eventually flew to Turkey to pick her up and take her back home. 

However, shortly after arriving back in Hanover, she stabbed a policewoman in the throat near the city’s main train station with a knife. The woman suffered life-threatening injuries, but eventually made a full recovery after undergoing surgery. 

Initially investigators examined whether there could have been a “possible political or religious motivation” for the attack, AFP reported. 

The new revelations appear to suggest that the operation may have been planned in advance. The chat logs show Safia talking about a “martyrdom operation.” She also described the November 13 Paris terror attacks, which killed 130 people as being “her favorite day.” This was due to the fact that “our lions were in action in Paris.” 

There are “grounds for suspecting that behind the act was a a concrete instruction from ranking members of the so-called Islamic state,” a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

But Safia S.’s defence lawyer, Mutlu Günal, said that claims she had an “assignment from Syria” were “nonsense, that’s not true”. Safia S. is currently under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.