Timeline of attacks and foiled plans in Germany in 2016

Policemen stand guard at the scene where a truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin.

PHOTO: EPA

BERLIN (AFP) - While Germany has so far been spared the devastating carnage that has hit neighbouring France and Belgium, it has suffered several attacks this year.

In some cases, the assaults have been claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group and carried out by asylum seekers. German authorities have also foiled plans to launch attacks.

Here is a timeline of the incidents in Germany so far this year:

Feb 26

A 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl stabs a police officer in the neck with a kitchen knife, wounding him badly. The assault is allegedly "ordered" by the ISIS but not claimed by the group. The teenager attacks the policeman during a routine check at Hanover train station in northern Germany, before being overpowered by another officer.

July 18

A 17-year-old asylum seeker, wielding an axe and a knife, attacks passengers on a Bavarian train. The assailant, believed to be Afghan, injures five people, four of them tourists from Hong Kong. He is shot dead by police. The ISIS releases a video purportedly featuring the attacker announcing he would carry out an "operation" in Germany, and presenting himself as a "soldier of the caliphate".

July 22

David Ali Sonboly, 18, shoots dead nine people at a Munich shopping mall before turning the gun on himself, having spent a year planning the rampage. Police say the German-Iranian was "obsessed" with mass murderers like Norwegian right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik but had no links to the ISIS.

July 25

A 27-year-old unsuccessful Syrian asylum seeker blows himself up near an open-air music festival in the southern city of Ansbach, wounding 15 others. The man had "pledged allegiance" to ISIS, while the jihadist-linked Amaq news agency says he was a "soldier" of the group. The asylum seeker, who was due to be deported to Bulgaria, had received treatment at a psychiatric hospital and was reported to have suicidal tendencies.

Oct 10

Police say they foiled a plot by a Syrian refugee to bomb a Berlin airport, having initially wanted to target trains in Germany. When commandos raid the apartment of Jaber Albakr, they find 1.5-kg of TATP, a homemade explosive used by militants in deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels. He commits suicide in prison two days later.

Nov 30

A German working in intelligence is exposed as "a suspect Islamist", Germany's domestic security agency says, following reports that he was planning an attack on its headquarters. The 51-year-old had been working at the agency since April 2016 and was responsible for observing the German Islamist scene.

Dec 16

German prosecutors say they are investigating a case in which a 12-year-old boy allegedly tried to detonate a home-made nail bomb at a Christmas market in the western city of Ludwigshafen.

Dec 19

A lorry crashes into a busy Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more in what police say was a suspected terror attack.

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