German police probe terrorist link to Cologne station hostage-taking

Investigations into a possible terrorist background to a hostage-taking in Cologne's main station that resulted in serious injury to the hostage-taker and a teenage girl are proceeding, city police said on Tuesday.

The hostage-taking in a pharmacy in the station building on Monday followed an arson attack on a fast food restaurant. Petrol had been used, apparently with the aim of injuring as many people as possible, Klaus-Stephan Becker, head of the Cologne criminal police, said.

Becker said the police were now certain that the assailant was a 55-year old Syrian refugee.

"He was psychologically not in a position to work," Becker said.

Federal prosecutors said they would probably take over the case from the Cologne authorities.

The assailant, who was hit several times by gunfire when police moved in after two hours to end the hostage situation, underwent a lengthy operation and was reported to be out of danger. He remains in a coma and has not been questioned.

Police said the man had poured a large quantity of petrol onto the floor of the restaurant in the station, as recorded by a security camera. A large explosion followed with a bright flash of fire.

The video showed that most of the customers in the restaurant were lucky to escape injury, Becker said. But a 14-year-old girl suffered serious burns. She is set to undergo a second operation.

After the arson attack, the man fled the restaurant for a pharmacy in the same building, leaving behind a suitcase and a briefcase with gas cartridges and fire accelerant. In the pharmacy he seized a woman as hostage. After he poured petrol over her, police moved in.

The woman, an employee in the pharmacy, suffered shock but was to be released from hospital on Tuesday.

If the assailant had managed to cause the gas cartridges to explode, the damage would have been considerable, Becker said. He added that a high temperature would have been needed and it was not clear whether the petrol would have been sufficient for this. The gas cartridges had been packed with steel balls, which would have boosted their ability to cause injury.

On searching the Syrian's home in the Neuehrenfeld part of Cologne, police found more petrol. They also found Arabic text on the wall, which referred to Islam, but could not be linked to the Islamic State terrorist group.

The Syrian's wife lives in Syria, but his son and his brother are in Germany.

The man has committed offences 13 times since 2013. The offences relate to drugs, deception, shoplifting and disturbance of the peace.

The Cologne newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger reported on the basis of remarks by the building manager where the Syrian lived that he had been imprisoned in his home country for opposition to the regime.

"He said that he had been tortured, with electric shocks, with water, with light," the building manager told the newspaper. "That made him psychologically unwell. He was here in Cologne for treatment."

The police said they had no information on the man's imprisonment in Syria.    (dpa)