The Afghan asylum seeker who drove a car into a union demonstration in Munich, Germany, reportedly said the words “Allahu akbar” and prayed, according to a prosecutor who believes the attack may have been driven by an “Islamist” motive.
Farhad Noori, 24, admitted that he deliberately plowed into a crowd of people gathered in the city center on Thursday and injured 36 people, according to Reuters.
The attack occurred hours before U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in the city, but police do not see a connection between the incident and the visit from the two political leaders.
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The suspect is under investigation on 36 counts of attempted murder, according to lead prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann.
While there is no evidence at the time that Noori is affiliated with any Islamist or terrorist organizations, investigators are looking into his communications, such as the ones in Dari.
“He has admitted that he deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration,” Tilmann said Friday. “I’m very cautious about making hasty judgments, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime.”
During the attack, police fired on Noori’s car but did not hit the suspect, as Reuters reports. Tilmann said that the suspect reportedly uttered “Allahu akbar” and prayed in front of the police.
German authorities confirmed that Noori was in the country legally, had no prior convictions and was not due for deportation. The Afghan national arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2016. He worked as a loss prevention agent at a store before the attack.
The Munich incident highlights the ongoing immigration debate in Germany ahead of the chancellor election this month. Both leading parties have promised to crack down on the issue in some way, according to The New York Times.
One of the parties that have received attention is the Alternative for Germany party, which ranked second in the polls at the time of reporting. The other is the conservative Christian Democrats, projected to finish first.
Some observers believe the AFD could see an increase in support in light of the attack as voters become more concerned with immigration, the outlet notes.
Allies of the Christian Democrats’ candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Thursday that he did not expect to lose supporters to AFD after the recent incident.
The attack in Munich is one of several violent incidents to have occurred in Germany within the last few months.
In December, a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen drove into a Christmas market in the central German city of Magdeburg, killing six people and injuring dozens of others. The driver first came to Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor in a town 25 miles away from Magdeburg, according to officials.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated in an X post at the time that his “thoughts are with the victims and their families,” writing in German.
“We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours,” Scholz added.
In January, another Afghan immigrant scheduled for deportation killed a young child and an adult in a knife attack in a Bavarian park. The migrant reportedly suffered from mental illness.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
