According to terrorism experts, personal motivation has played a role in several Islamic terrorist attacks in Germany over the past five years.
Martin Kahl of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg attended a press conference organized by the Integrated Media Services organization on Thursday.
He told reporters that although the perpetrators are integrated into the “ideological narrative” circulating around the world, they can be impressed, “in some cases, the perpetrators hope to find a way out of their own lives through their actions.”
He said it was often the case of the perpetrators themselves, who themselves considered it unsatisfactory and played an important role in planning the act, supplemented by Islamist motivations, with the aim of “making the act more meaningful.”
Perpetrators often seek to strengthen their self-confidence and become famous.
In some cases, it is also difficult for the court to determine whether ideology is indeed the main motivation. “It could be intertwined, and it’s almost impossible to separate it,” Carl said.
The last four attacks allegedly involved in religious motives – in Mannheim, Solingen, Munich and Berlin – were not found any serious mental disorders.
In the past, Western military interventions such as Iraq and Afghanistan were the main triggers for Islamic terrorists, and experts believe that later, the burning of Mohammed’s cartoons and the Quran played a greater role.
Between 2014 and 2017, an attack was carried out with the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). According to Kahl, ideology is still the point of reference. But the latest attack he said was carried out with rather vague motivations by “lonely operators” with little contact with terrorist groups.
Since 2015, Carl and his team have documented a total of 15 Islamic terrorist attacks in Germany, as well as four failed attacks, 33 suspicious cases and 33 attacks, which were blocked by security authorities during the planning or preparation phase.
