(AFP) Germany said Monday it was investigating potential foreign influence in a series of recent attacks after a media report alleged that actors in Russia may have played a role in some of them.
The spate of attacks blamed on asylum seekers over the past 12 months, including stabbings and car-rammings, led to a bitter debate on migration ahead of EU elections last year and in the run-up to Germany’s general election in February.
In one case, an Afghan man is on trial over a stabbing spree at an anti-Islam rally in the city of Mannheim last May that killed a police officer and wounded several other people.
Public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday reported that Russian online accounts had carried out searches about the Mannheim attack before it actually happened.
