[3] The bomber, identified by police as Mohammad Daleel, was a 27-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who had pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State.

[4][5] According to German authorities, Daleel was in contact with the Islamic State and had been planning more attacks before his backpack bomb exploded accidentally.

He carried a backpack filled with screws, nails, and miscellaneous metal parts used in wood manufacturing and was denied entry into the music festival shortly before the blast because he had no ticket.

[2][18] German authorities now believe Daleel intended to remotely detonate the Ansbach bomb while filming it and to later commit further terrorist attacks.

[28] German officials and the local court in Ansbach rejected his first asylum request on 2 December 2014 and ordered his deportation to Bulgaria.

Normal procedure in Germany did not allow Daleel to be deported to his home country due to the ongoing Syrian civil war.

[31][32] As Daleel was part of the Islamic in Syria and was receiving detailed instructions from the group, there were speculations that he may have exaggerated his mental health problems to evade deportation.

[38] Paul Cruickshank, the Editor-in-Chief of CTC Sentinel, a publication of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, has suggested Daleel 'faked or exaggerated' any mental health problems in an attempt to stay in Germany.

[40] It was claimed that Daleel had once attempted to firebomb a German immigration office, but been dissuaded by an aide assigned him (as a refugee asylum applicant) to "help him adapt in Germany".

[41] It was alleged that Daleel built the explosive device "in the refugee center",[42] and that it took him three months, during which period German police raided the building he was living in but failed to arrest him.

Multiple cell phones, SIM cards, a notebook, and six Facebook accounts with Islamist material that belonged to Daleel were also discovered and under investigation.

"[45][46] As a result of the recent attacks in Germany, the hashtag #Merkelsommer and phrase "Merkel summer" trended on Twitter starting on 25 July 2016 and appeared in other social media.

[19][47] Experts believed that the recent attacks could create an anti-foreigner sentiment in the country, thus presenting criticism and pressure for Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany since 2005.