A 30-year-old Iraqi who caused several car crashes in Berlin on Tuesday evening purposely struck other vehicles in an apparent radical Islamic terror attack, according to authorities.
Investigators say that the multiple traffic accidents, which saw six people injured, three seriously, were deliberately caused by Iraqi migrant Sarmad A.. The prosecutor’s office stated Wednesday: “On the basis of current information, it was an Islamist-motivated attack.”
According to a report from Germany’s Welt, Sarman A. drove into two motorcyclists, injuring both of them, and got out of his car and yelled “Allah hu Akbar!” at them. He then put a metal box on the roof of his car, and stated: “No one is coming nearer, otherwise you will all die.”
Police arrested the 30-year-old a short time later, with officers saying they only found tools in the metal box. Police said the Iraqi was behind at least two other accidents that involved a man on a scooter and another motorcyclist on the A100 motorway. As well as the box, the man is also reported to have been carrying a knife and a prayer mat.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said the suspect had “hunted motorcyclists”.
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“We assume a religious-Islamist act; a radical religious-Islamist attitude and psychological lability. We have no evidence of a terrorist group or any other perpetrators. A decision on pre-trial detention or accommodation will be taken during the day,” he added.
The Iraqi migrant had been living in Germany with “tolerated” status which is set to expire at the end of the year. Although he is not known to the federal security services, the suspect had several encounters with police in the past.
The attack comes just over three and a half years after radical Islamist Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri hijacked a truck and drove it into a Christmas Market in Berlin, killing a dozen people and injuring 56 others.
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