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Agence France-Presse

Police believe an Afghan man suspected of driving a car into a group of people in Munich may have had Islamist extremist motives, authorities said on Friday as German leaders paid tribute to the dozens wounded in the attack.
The carnage on Thursday came on the eve of an international security conference in the Bavarian city and amid a heated debate in Germany on immigration ahead of February 23 elections following a spate of similar attacks.
Initial assessments of evidence seized from electronic devices belonging to the suspect showed a “certain Islamist orientation”, police spokesman Guido Limmer told reporters.
After the incident, the suspect uttered the words “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) to police officers and also prayed after his arrest, prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann added.
The 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, identified by German media as Farhad N., is accused of deliberately driving a Mini Cooper into a trade union demonstration in Munich.

A total of 36 people were wounded in the incident, Limmer told reporters, with two in a critical condition, including a child.
A further eight of the wounded were in a serious condition, Limmer said.
Tilmann said the suspect had confessed to deliberately ramming the car into the crowd, citing “what I would summarise as a religious motivation”.
Farhad N. was living in Germany legally, worked in security and was also heavily involved in fitness and bodybuilding, Tilmann said.
He was “very religious and also displayed this outwardly”, regularly attending a mosque and making online “posts with religious references”, she added.
However, “we have no evidence to suggest that the accused is involved in any Islamist organisation such as Islamic State”, Tilmann said.
Initial investigations had also turned up “no evidence that he had mental health issues that could have had any impact on the crime”, she said.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the scene of the incident on Friday morning along with several regional leaders, who all laid flowers at the site.
“The brutality of this act has left us deeply disturbed and bewildered,” Steinmeier said in a statement, noting that it appeared the suspect had “wanted to kill and injure people indiscriminately”.
“The perpetrator is in custody and will be brought to justice in accordance with the law,” he said.
The suspect was said to have arrived in Germany in 2016 at the height of the mass migrant influx to Europe.
His asylum request was rejected by German authorities but he found work and was able to remain legally in the country, according to officials.
The attack comes amid an already heated debate on immigration and security in Germany after a string of similar incidents, most recently in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month.

Two people, including a two-year-old boy, were killed in a knife attack on a kindergarten group, with police arresting a 28-year-old Afghan man with a history of mental illness.
In December, six people were killed after a car ploughed into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, wounding hundreds.
A Saudi man was arrested for that attack, with officials saying he also appeared to be mentally disturbed.
The conservative CDU/CSU alliance, which polls suggest is on track to win this month’s election, has called for tougher curbs on immigration after the recent attacks.
Under pressure even before the election was called, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government had moved to make asylum rules stricter and speed up deportations, including to Afghanistan.


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Germany

Suspect in Munich car ramming had ‘Islamist orientation’: police

A car is lifted onto a tow truck at the scene in Munich. Photo: dpa

Members of German union Ver.di pay their respects on Friday at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich on February 13. Photo: AFP

(From right) Bavarian Minister President Markus Soeder, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter take part in a silent commemoration at the attack site. Photo: dpa

A memorial at Schoental Park for the victims of Aschaffenburg’s fatal knife attack in January. Photo: dpa

Asylum-seeker drives car into Munich crowd, injures 28

Police work at a car that drove into a crowd in Munich. Police have detained the driver and did not consider him to pose any further threat, but declined to comment on whether it was an accident. Photo: Reuters

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

A police sniffer dog works at the car that drove into a crowd in Munich. Photo: Reuters

French police hunt man who threw grenade into bar, injuring 15

Police investigators work outside the community bar where a grenade was thrown. The bar is named after a town in Turkey, and is run by Algerian managers and frequented mostly by men, according to neighbours. Photo: AFP

Emergency services work near the scene of an explosion at a bar where a grenade was thrown, in Grenoble, on February 12, 2025. Photo: AFP

Police investigators work near the scene of the explosion. The attacker, whose motive was still unclear, entered the Aksehir bar, situated in a rough neighbourhood of the city, shortly after 8pm on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Sweden mourns victims of deadliest shooting, but gunman’s motive remains unknown

 People light candles at a makeshift vigil near Campus Risbergska in Orebro, Sweden, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Nursing student Hellen Werme, who hid under a bed during the deadly shooting attack, reacts during an interview in Orebro, Sweden, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Police officers stand guard outside Campus Risbergska in Orebro, Sweden, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Knife attacker in Germany kills 2, including child

Rescue vehicles near a crime scene in Aschaffenburg, Germany, where two people were killed in a knife attack. Photo: AP

The scene of the crime and the park were cordoned off after the incident in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg, Germany. Photo: AP

News

World

Europe

Theattacked came on the eve of an international security conference in Munich and amid a heated debate in Germany on immigration


Theattacked came on the eve of an international security conference in Munich and amid a heated debate in Germany on immigration.


Afghanistan

Crime