Germany: man causes accidents on motorway, an act "motivated by Islamism"

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

A man on Tuesday night caused serial accidents with his car on a highway through the city of Berlin, injuring six people, three of them seriously. This voluntary car-ramming act is "motivated by Islamism according to the current state of the investigation," said a spokesperson for the local prosecution.

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According to several media, the perpetrator is a 30-year-old Iraqi who shouted "  Allah Akbar  " ("  God is great  ") as he got out of his vehicle, after hitting several cars and motorcycles on the urban highway at around 6.30 p.m. local time. (4:30 p.m. UT) this Tuesday. "  Let no one come near, otherwise you will all die  ! ", He also shouted according to witnesses quoted by the daily Bild , by threatening to hold an explosive device. He was arrested by the police who arrived in large numbers on the spot.

The police then interrupted traffic on this busy highway for several hours, causing massive traffic jams, to check the contents of suspicious boxes left by the man in his vehicle.

One of the boxes was opened remotely as a precaution with a very high pressure water sprayer. But nothing suspicious was immediately found.

Ram truck in 2016

The German authorities are on the alert regarding the Islamist threat weighing on the country, particularly since a ram truck attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group which killed 12 people in December 2016 in Berlin. This jihadist attack is the deadliest ever committed on German soil.

Since that date, the German authorities have foiled a dozen attempted attacks of this type, including two in November 2019, according to the police. Among these attempts in particular, the police foiled in June 2018 a " biological bomb "  attack  , following the arrest of a Tunisian suspected of being linked to the Islamic State organization. The 29-year-old man, who arrived in Germany in 2015, was sentenced in March this year to ten years in prison for this act and his partner to eight years in prison.

Since 2013, the number of Islamists considered dangerous in Germany has increased fivefold to currently stand at 680. The number of Salafists is estimated at around 11,000, twice as many as in 2013.

► See also: Germany: arrest of three Iraqis suspected of preparing an attack

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