Syrian asylum seeker killed by own bomb at German bar

A 27-year-old asylum seeker from Syria detonated a backpack device after being refused entry to an open-air music festival in the German city of Ansbach, killing himself and injuring 12 others.

About 2,500 people were evacuated from the venue after the explosion.

The explosion is reported to have happened at about 1:40 am IST on Monday outside a bar in the city centre which is a short distance from the entrance to the Ansbach Open music festival.

At a media conference in the early hours of Monday the Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the man was carrying a backpack at the time of the blast but was turned away at the entrance to the festival.

"We don't know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others. His backpack contained metal items used in wood manufacturing and could have killed many more people," he said.

Hermann said the man's request for asylum was rejected a year ago, but he was allowed to remain in Germany on account of the situation in Syria.

German police said they do not yet know whether the attacker had a radical Islamist background.

The investigation currently focused on the attacker’s communications.

Germany has been on high alert following a series of attacks in recent days.

On Sunday, a Syrian refugee hacked a woman to death with a machete and injured two others in Reutlingen. The 21-year-old man was apparently acting alone and has been arrested, with locals indicating it may have been "a crime of passion".

And in Munich on Friday, just 90 miles south east of Ansbach, 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly shot nine people dead after rampaging through a shopping centre and gunning down children outside a McDonalds restaurant.

Hermann said: "It is terrible that someone abuses the opportunity to find protection here in such a way. I am appalled by that.

"We have to do all we can so that such violence in our country committed by asylum seekers who have come to our country will not spread any further."

Images: German police secure the site where the Syrian backpacker detonated the explosive. Photographs: Michaela Rehle/Reuters