Van ploughs into crowd in Germany, at least 2 dead
Some 20 injured after car hits group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in Muenster; driver among dead after taking his own life; German security official said there is no indication of an Islamic extremist motive, but officials are investigating all possibilities.
A man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing at least two of them before shooting himself dead, police and the interior ministry said.
"There are several dead," a police spokeswoman said, adding that six of the 20 injured were in critical condition.
Several hours after the attack, a top German security official said there is no indication of an Islamic extremist motive, but officials are investigating all possibilities.
Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Muenster is located, said the driver of the van was a German citizen. He stressed the investigation is at an early stage but said "at the moment, nothing speaks for there being any Islamist background," adding "we are investigating in all directions."
The van drove into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists, the police spokeswoman said.
"At 3:27pm, a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant ... three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured," police spokesman Andreas Bode said, adding: "The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle."
It was not immediately clear whether the perpetrator was among the three killed, or whether his death took the number of dead to four. A police spokeswoman said separately that there were at least three people dead.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the man was a German with psychological problems who had no terrorist background. The Interior Ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, home to Muenster, would neither confirm nor deny the report.
Bode said the identity of the perpetrator was not yet clear. Investigators were looking at the possibility that other suspects fled the scene, though they had no evidence that this was the case, he added.
"It is far too early to speak of an attack," Bode said. "We have cordoned off the area widely. The crime scene investigators are checking out the crime scene, trying to identify, investigate and secure traces. That is our current task."
The police spokeswoman said: "The danger is over."
Bode also said police had found a suspicious object inside the van and were investigating it.
Police have urged people in Muenster to stay inside their homes and avoid the crash scene in the city's historic downtown.
According to German media, large parts of the city were closed off after the car ramming, and helicopters were seen circling overhead.
The mayor of Muenster said authorities don't yet know the motive behind the van crash.
Mayor Markus Lewe told reporters that "all of Muenster is mourning this horrible incident. Our sympathy is with the relatives of those who were killed. We wish the injured a quick recovery."
Meanwhile, a leading German newspaper reported that authorities believe there is no terrorist motive behind the deadly van crash and the driver is believed to be a middle-aged German man who had psychological issues.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper also said the suspect's apartment was being searched for possible explosives.
Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, said federal authorities are in close contact with officials in North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Muenster is located, and all are trying to figure out what happened.
A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel says "our thoughts are with the victims and their families."
Spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer on Twitter called the crash Saturday "terrible news."
"I am shocked by the news from Muenster," said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.
"My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," she added. "I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work."
The incident evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people. Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck on December 19, 2016, killed the driver and then ploughed it into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.
