BERLIN, July 26. /TASS/. The man, who drove a car into a group of people in the Tiergarten Park area in central Berlin, is connected with Islamists, the DPA news agency quoted a law enforcement official as saying.
"The man had previously come to the attention of law enforcement agencies and is classified as an Islamist militant in Berlin," said police spokesman Florian Nath. The search for the attacker continues.
Bild said the attacker is 21-year-old Abdul B.
"We have the first strong suspicions about this man. We are searching for him, but we have not been able to detain him yet," the police spokesman told the newspaper. He did not elaborate.
According to the police representative, several operational activities are being carried out in the city, including a search in one of the apartments in the Schoneberg area. However, no arrests were made, as no one was inside, Nath told DPA.
The incident occurred around 10:00 p.m. local time (08:00 p.m. GMT) in the Tiergarten Park area near Potsdamer Platz. The driver of a "small white van" ran over several people, crashed into a tree, then left the car and fled in an unknown direction. Photos posted on the Internet show a white minibus crashing into a tree. According to the latest data, at least one woman was killed and 16 people were injured in the incident.
A fire department official said that of the 16 injured, three are in critical condition, and eight more were seriously injured. Five people received minor injuries. All the injured, who are in serious and critical condition, were taken to hospitals. The motives of the incident remain unclear.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were immediately informed of the incident.