Munich attack suspect had ‘religious’ motive, prosecutor says

Police in Munich say at least 36 people were hurt when a car rammed into a crowd – including a child, who suffered serious injuries.

Police told a news conference on Friday that two of the 36 people were “very seriously hurt” in what they now say is being treated as a murder attempt, while eight more were seriously hurt. The others suffered minor injuries.

A 24-year-old Afghan national, Farhad N, was arrested after officers fired a shot at the vehicle.

Workers taking part in a union demonstration were walking along a street when the car overtook a police vehicle that was accompanying the group, according to officers in the German city.

They said the car then sped up and ploughed into the back of the group.

At the news conference, prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said the suspect admitted that he “deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration”.

In questioning, he “gave an explanation that I would summarise as religious motivation,” she said, adding the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great”, to police and then prayed after his arrest.

“I’m very cautious about making hasty judgements, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime,” she added.

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She clarified that the authorities had no reason to believe that the perpetrator was affiliated with any Islamist or terrorist organisations and that they had not found any evidence of him having accomplices.

She said they were now looking through his devices to see “whether other people knew about the attack before it happened, or if he was part of a network” – but added they had not found any evidence of this so far.

The incident happened shortly before world leaders including US vice president JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the southern city for the Munich Security Conference this weekend.

But police have said the incident is not thought to be related to the conference.

Officials say Farhad N has lived in Munich since he arrived as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum in 2016, and has no previous convictions.

The man’s asylum application was rejected, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors say he is now under investigation on 36 counts of attempted murder as well as bodily harm and dangerous interference with road traffic.

Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks.

The most notable one was two months ago, when a Saudi doctor was accused of driving his car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six and injuring hundreds.

Immigration has been a major talking point, with far-right party AfD doing well in polls.

On Thursday, German chancellor Olaf Scholz described the Munich incident as a “terrible attack” and said the perpetrator “must be punished and he must leave the country”.