German authorities are treating the incident, which injured at least 36 people, as attempted murder.
The suspect in a Munich car ramming that injured dozens of people has confessed to intentionally driving the vehicle into a crowd, German authorities say, but no evidence points to his involvement in a violent group or network.
German prosecutors on Friday said at least 36 people were injured in the incident, which is being treated as a murder attempt.
The suspect was identified as Farhad Noori, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office in Munich said.
According to prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann, the 24-year-old Afghan national admitted to having deliberately driven a white Mini Cooper into a labour union demonstration in the Bavarian capital on Thursday.
Tilmann said the motive remained unclear and there was no evidence to suggest the suspect was affiliated with any “Islamist” or “terrorist” organisations. She added that there was no indication of any accomplices.
However, she said the suspect “gave an explanation that I would summarise as religious motivation”.
“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.
Tilmann explained that the suspect said “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is the greatest” in Arabic, to police and then prayed after his arrest, which prompted a department that investigates political and religious violence to take on the case.
The man was in Germany legally and had no previous convictions. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter on Thursday corrected an earlier statement by the interior minister saying he was in Germany illegally and should have been deported.
Immigration and security issues have dominated campaigning before February 23 federal elections, especially after other violent incidents in recent weeks, with polls showing the centre-right conservatives leading, followed by the far right.
In December, six people were killed in an attack on a Christmas market in the northern city of Magdeburg, and last month, a toddler and adult were killed in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Foreign nationals have been arrested in both attacks.
Conservative Friedrich Merz, the frontrunner to be Germany’s next chancellor, said safety would be his top priority. “We will enforce law and order. Everyone must feel safe in our country again. Something has to change in Germany,” Merz posted on X.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, in second place in opinion polls, also seized on the incident in Munich with co-leader Alice Weidel focusing on the driver being an Afghan asylum seeker.
“Should this go on forever? Migration turnaround now!” she posted on the social media platform X.
The AfD is set for its best election result of about 20 percent, according to current polling, on an agenda that revolves largely around a crackdown on immigration.
The latest attacks have inflamed the debate around this issue as resentment mounts towards asylum seekers. On Thursday, police in the eastern city of Dresden arrested a 21-year-old German suspect over a plot to bomb a shelter for asylum seekers.
