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The Latest: attacker was in online chat before explosion

BERLIN (AP) - The Latest on a series of attacks in Germany (all times local):

1:55 p.m.

Bavaria's interior minister says a man who blew himself up at a bar in the southern German town of Ansbach was in an online chat with an as-yet unknown person immediately before the explosion.

News agency dpa reported that Joachim Herrmann said Wednesday: "There was apparently an immediate contact with someone who had a significant influence on this attack."

He said it wasn't clear whether the assailant was in contact with the Islamic State group or where the other person in the chat was.

Herrmann says investigators checking the assailant's cellphone came across the "intensive chat" and that "the chat appears to end immediately before the attack."

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11 a.m.

The online magazine of the Islamic State group has described how a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker who blew himself up at a bar in the southern German town of Ansbach spent months planning the attack, once even hiding his home-made bomb in his room moments before a police raid.

The weekly Al-Nabaa magazine's report, published late Tuesday, added that Mohammad Daleel had fought both in Iraq and Syria with a branch of al-Qaida and the IS group before arriving in Germany as an asylum-seeker two years ago.

Daleel died and 15 people were wounded when the bomb exploded in a wine bar Sunday night after he wasn't allowed entry to a nearby open-air concert because he didn't have a ticket.

The Ansbach attack was the last one of four attacks in the country in the span of a week, two of which have been claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

GERMANY OUT - Refugees from Syria stand near the site of the attack and hold up a sign reading 'we are Muslims and not terrorists' in Ansbach, Germany, Tuesday July 26, 2016. In the most recent attack, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP) The Associated Press
GERMANY OUT -A broken window photographed at the site of the attack in Ansbach, Germany, Tuesday July 26, 2016. In the most recent attack in Germany, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP) The Associated Press
GERMANY OUT - Police officers walk past a wall with a peace dove on a banner at the site of the attack in Ansbach, Germany,Tuesday July 26, 2016. In the most recent attack, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP) The Associated Press
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