Syrian migrant accused of Germany stabbing was Islamic State member, say prosecutors
Mahmoud M., 35, was allegedly a Raqqa-area operative for the terror group until 2016; authorities say he stabbed four people outside Bar in Bielefeld in May as part of ‘holy war’
BERLIN — A Syrian migrant accused of stabbing four people outside a bar in the German city of Bielefeld was a member of the Islamic State group, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Mahmoud M., 35, is accused of randomly attacking customers with knives at the bar in Bielefeld in the early hours of May 18, leaving four people seriously injured.
He then allegedly fled the scene but was arrested and detained the next day, around 170 kilometers (105 miles) away, on suspicion of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
The case was then handed over to federal prosecutors after evidence suggested the attack might have been motivated by Islamist beliefs.
On Wednesday, prosecutors issued a new arrest warrant for Mahmoud M. that also accused him of membership in a terrorist organization.
“Mahmoud M. follows an Islamist-jihadist ideology,” the federal prosecutors said.
Angreifer von Bielefeld taucht in Polizeisystem mit acht verschiedenen Namen auf https://t.co/jeANZ15PBH pic.twitter.com/uaKIE9Pwun
— WELT (@welt) May 22, 2025
He allegedly joined the Islamic State group in Syria before December 2014, working as a watchman and border guard in the Raqqa area until early 2016.
Mahmoud M. wanted to “kill as many randomly selected people in Germany as possible in the name of a global ‘holy war,'” the prosecutors said.
Islamist extremists have committed several attacks in Germany in recent years, the deadliest being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.
More recently, Islamist motives are suspected in several of a string of deadly attacks blamed on migrants ahead of Germany’s elections in February.
Last month, a Syrian man suspected of belonging to IS went on trial over the murder of three people in a stabbing spree at a street festival in the western city of Solingen.
An alleged IS sympathizer from Afghanistan is also on trial on charges of killing a policeman and wounding five others in a knife attack at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim last year.
The Times of Israel Community.