Fatal Berlin Pride attack believed to be an act of Islamic extremist terror, German minister says

Fatal Berlin Pride attack believed to be an act of Islamic extremist terror, German minister says

Van ramming and stabbing left 1 dead, others injured; suspect remains at large

A van ramming and stabbing near Berlin's Pride festival that left one person dead and many others injured is believed to have been an Islamic extremist terror attack, Germany's interior minister said Sunday.

The suspect in Saturday night's attack remains at large.

Authorities issued a wanted notice and warned people against approaching Abdul Ballout, 21, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.

Authorities said he is believed to have injured several people after he drove a van into a crowd at a park near the Pride festival's closing party. He then allegedly attacked other people with a weapon, suspected to be a machete.

"Everything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack," Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.

Dobrindt put the total number of injured at 29.

The attack occurred a few hundred metres from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to officially close out the city's Pride festival.

Ashley Jump, a 26-year-old U.K. resident, had travelled to Berlin for Saturday's Pride parade but had left the celebrations before the attack. They returned Sunday to leave flowers at a memorial near the crime scene in support of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

"They'll never erase us; we'll never be gone," they said. "As long as humanity has existed, we've existed. And as long as humanity exists, we will exist. We will not be removed."

Suspect allegedly has ties to Islamic extremism

Police had said earlier that they had identified a suspect who has ties to Islamic groups in the German capital.

Dobrindt said the suspect had come to authorities' attention in the past because of numerous previous crimes, of which he didn't give details, and also because of "radicalization and belonging to the Islamist scene."

He said Ballout was born in Germany and that his mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before he was born.

Berlin police launch hunt for suspect in deadly Pride festival attack

Dobrindt said the suspect had been convicted in Berlin in the past, although he didn't specify for what. He said that he had been given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months.

Police conducted operations in the city as they searched for the suspect. Those included a search at an apartment in Berlin's Schöneberg district in the early hours of Sunday, but police said they found no one there.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that law enforcement would find the suspect.

"I would like to say this to Christopher Street Day participants here in Berlin but also across Germany: 'Don't let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated,'" he said.

"These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: Namely our openness and our freedom."

Manhunt continues for suspect tied to deadly Pride festival attack in Berlin38 minutes ago|Duration 4:01German authorities issued a wanted notice for a fugitive suspect in a van ramming near Berlin's Pride festival that left one person dead and injured at least 29 others. They say the suspect has ties to Islamic groups in the German capital.

Dobrindt said he expected security measures at other major events in Germany, including Pride events elsewhere, to be reviewed and if necessary significantly strengthened.

He pointed to concern about possible copycat crimes, adding that "this is not typical of such situations, but it also can't be ruled out."

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Berlin has seen Islamic extremist attacks before. In December 2016, a rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia plowed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. He was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

In February last year, a Spanish tourist was stabbed and seriously wounded at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial. A Syrian man was convicted in March and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Saturday's violence "is suspected to be an Islamist terror attack on our way of living together, on our liberal democracy, on our openness and our freedom," Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said.

In the neighbouring Netherlands, Amsterdam is hosting World Pride this week and next alongside its own annual Pride celebrations.

Mayor Femke Halsema said authorities and organizers "are closely monitoring the security situation" after the Berlin attack but aim to prevent any extra measures getting in the way of celebrating freedom and love.