At least 28 people were hurt when a car driven by an Afghan asylum seeker plowed into a crowd in Munich on Thursday in what the state premier said was probably an attack, putting security back in focus before next week’s federal election.
The suspected attack came hours before international leaders including US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were due to arrive in the southern German city for the Munich Security Conference.
We currently believe that we have at least 28 people injured, some of them seriously,” said a police spokesperson.
Police said a white car had approached police vehicles that were accompanying a demonstration of striking workers, before speeding up and slamming into people. One shot was fired at the suspect and it was unclear if he was wounded, police added.
Officers detained the 24-year-old driver. They said his motive was unclear.
“It was probably an attack,” Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder told reporters.
Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect had been known to police for drug and shoplifting offences. His asylum application had been rejected, said Herrmann, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan.
