|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Simon Kent
The driver behind the car-ramming attack in Munich that left more than 30 people injured appears to have had an “Islamist motivation” authorities said Friday.
They qualified the observation by claiming there’s no evidence the suspect – named locally as 24-year-old Farhad N – was involved with any radical network, rather he appeared to be a lone terror operative.
As Breitbart News reported, the 24-year-old Afghan, who arrived in Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2016 and lived in Munich, was arrested after sending his Mini Cooper careering into the back of a labor union demonstration in the Bavarian city on Thursday.
Farhad N previously had his asylum application rejected but his deportation was suspended.
Police officers pulled him out of the car after firing a shot at the vehicle, which didn’t hit him, and arrested him.
AP reports prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said the suspect cried “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” to police and then prayed after his arrest — which prompted a department that investigates extremism and terror to take on the case immediately.
In questioning, the perpetrator admitted deliberately driving into the demonstration and “gave an explanation that I would summarize as religious motivation,” Tilmann said.
The AP report notes no further details were offered, but she added: “According to all we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation.” However, there were no indications the suspect was in any Islamic extremist organization, she added.
The deputy head of Bavaria’s state criminal police office, Guido Limmer, said investigators found a chat, apparently with relatives, in which the suspect wrote “perhaps I won’t be there anymore tomorrow,” but so far they have found nothing that points to concrete preparations for the attack or anyone else being involved.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded harshly and with stern words after the incident, the BBC reports.
“This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country,” Scholz told reporters.
The incident came just hours before world leaders including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky among many others are due to arrive in the city for a major international conference, the Munich Security Conference
