Muenster, Germany: A man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing several of them before taking his own life, police said.

“There are several dead,” a police spokeswoman said, adding that several of those injured were in critical condition. A police spokesman said around 30 people were injured.

A security source added: “The scenario is such that an attack cannot be ruled out.”

The van drove into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists, the police spokeswoman said.

Mass-selling daily Bild reported in its online edition that three people had died in the incident.

Police said they were not looking for further suspects after the driver took his own life after the crash, but on Twitter they urged people to avoid Muenster city centre. “The danger is over,” the police spokeswoman said.

The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people, and also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people.

Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck on 19 December 2016, killed the driver and then ploughed it into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.

“I am shocked by the news from Muenster,” said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition. “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,” she added. “I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work.” Reuters </s> Three killed and several injured after a man drives van into a crowd of people in Muenster, Germany before taking his own life. Officials are investigating the matter for possible terror connections



Police sources say the driver comitted suicide after ploughing the van into the pedestrians. Pic/Twitter

In what may be considered a possible terror attack, a man driving a van plowed into a crowd in the northern German city of Muenster on Saturday. At least thre people and dozens were injured in the assault. The culprit then comitted suicide by shooting himself, according to a senior German security official. Officials are unsure whether the incident had connections to terrorism.

The security official further added that response measures were being conducted by the police as though it were a terrorist attack, but that they remained uncertain about whether it was one, the Washington Post reported. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the unfolding details of the case. "There are dead and injured. Please avoid the area," the North Rhine-Westphalia regional police wrote on their official Twitter account. "We are on site." The police told people to avoid the city centre.

Images of the city centre surfacing on social media showed a small delivery van that appeared to have hopped onto a sidewalk off the street and plowed through the seats and tables of an outdoor cafe. Chairs were scattered and broken across a small cobblestone plaza. Vehicles have been used in terrorist attacks across Europe in recent years, including in Germany. In December 2016, a Tunisian man whose asylum request had been rejected crashed a truck through a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring 56.

- With inputs from agencies

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The inputs from agencies have been sourced from a third party syndicated feed. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text </s> Several people have been been killed, and about 30 reported injured, in the city of Muenster, western Germany, after a van drove into pedestrians.

The driver of the vehicle has killed himself, police said. </s> MUENSTER, Germany (Reuters) - A man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing at least two of them before shooting himself dead, police said.

The vehicle ploughed into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists.

“At 15:27 (1327 GMT), a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant ... three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured,” police spokesman Andreas Bode said, adding: “The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle.”

It was not immediately clear whether the perpetrator was among the three killed, or whether his death took the number of dead to four. A police spokeswoman said separately that there were at least three people dead.

A security source said the perpetrator was probably German.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the man was a German with psychological problems who had no terrorist background. The Interior Ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, home to Muenster, would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Bode said the identity of the perpetrator was not yet clear. Investigators were looking at the possibility that other suspects fled the scene, though they had no evidence that this was the case, he added.

“It is far too early to speak of an attack,” Bode said. “We have cordoned off the area widely. The crime scene investigators are checking out the crime scene, trying to identify, investigate and secure traces. That is our current task.”

The police spokeswoman said: “The danger is over.”

The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people.

It also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people. In that attack, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.

“I am shocked by the news from Muenster,” said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,” she added. “I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work.”

Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer tweeted: “Awful news from Muenster. Our thoughts are with the victims and their relatives.” </s> (CNN) A van slammed into a crowd Saturday in an apparently deliberate act in the German city of Muenster, killing two people and leaving 20 others injured, officials said.

The driver also shot and killed himself, a police spokeswoman said. The driver was a German citizen, said Herbert Reul, state minister for internal affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Authorities are treating the incident as an attack. There is no known connection to radical Islam but investigators are still looking into the driver's background, Reul said.

Police earlier said there were three deaths. Reul clarified later Saturday that the total included the attacker.

Muenster police spokesman Andreas Bode said law enforcement is looking into witness reports that some people fled the attacker's van after the attack. He also said there was a suspicious object in the vehicle that was under investigation.

Read More </s> MUENSTER, Germany (Reuters) - A man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing at least two of them before shooting himself dead, police said.

The vehicle ploughed into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists.

“At 15:27 (1327 GMT), a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant ... three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured,” a police spokesman said, adding: “The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle.”

It was not immediately clear whether the perpetrator was among the three killed, or whether his death took the number of dead to four. A police spokeswoman said separately that there were at least three people dead.

The identity of the perpetrator was not yet clear, the spokesman said. Investigators were looking at the possibility that other suspects fled the scene, though they had no evidence this was the case, he added.

“It is far too early to speak of an attack,” he said.

The police spokeswoman said: “The danger is over.”

The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people, and also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people.

Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck on Dec. 19, 2016, killed the driver and then ploughed it into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.

“I am shocked by the news from Muenster,” said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,” she added. “I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work.” </s> German authorities investigating a deadly van ramming attack focused yesterday on mental health problems of the driver, as the city of Muenster mourned for the two people killed on a sunny afternoon at an open-air restaurant



A man lights a candle at the square where the attack took place. Pic/AFP

After the deadly ramming attack in Germany that killed two people in an open-air restaurant, the German authorities are investigating the killings by focusing on the mental health of the driver. The city if Muenster mourned for the two people who died.

"There are strong indications at the moment that this was a lone perpetrator and that there were no links to the terror scene," said federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer at the site of Saturday's attacks, where locals laid flowers in memory of the victims. There are "no indications of a political motive," said Hajo Kuhlisch, chief of police in the western city where the attack took place.

Rather, he added, "the motive and origins (of the crime) lie within the perpetrator," a 48-year-old German identified as Jens R who shot himself dead immediately after the crime. A source close to the investigation said there was a record of incidents related to the perpetrator's impaired mental health since 2015, and that he had talked of suicide in late March. And broadcaster NTV reported he had threatened family members with an axe in 2014 and 2015.

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The inputs from agencies have been sourced from a third party syndicated feed. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text </s> A German man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing two of them before shooting himself dead, police and state officials said.

The vehicle ploughed into people seated at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl eatery, a popular destination for tourists in the pretty university city.

Herbert Reul, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, home to Muenster, told German television the suspect was a German citizen and there was "no indication of an Islamist background".

Police spokesman Andreas Bode earlier said: "At 15:27, a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant... three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured."

"The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle," Bode added.

Reul said the three dead included the perpetrator.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in its online edition that the perpetrator was Jens R., 48, who resided some 2 km (1.2 miles) from the crime scene.

Broadcaster ZDF said police were searching his apartment and that he had contact with far-right extremists, but there was no evidence thus far that he was a far-right extremist himself.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the man had psychological problems. The Interior Ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Bode said investigators were looking at the possibility that other suspects fled the scene, though they had no evidence that this was the case, he added.

Bild newspaper said police were searching for two possible additional suspects after witnesses said they had seen two people jump out of the van. Jens R. had no police record, the newspaper said.

"The crime scene investigators are checking out the crime scene, trying to identify, investigate and secure traces. That is our current task," Bode said.

A police spokeswoman said: "The danger is over."

Martin Wiech, who said he had studied in Muenster, told Der Spiegel he had driven there to go shopping and was now unable to return to his car.

"Unbelievable that something like this could happen in Muenster. It is one of the most peaceful cities I know," he said.

The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people.

It also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12. In that attack, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement she was "deeply shaken".

"Everything possible is now being done to clarify the facts and to support the victims and their relatives", she added.

On Saturday evening, the White House issued a statement sending U.S. President Donald Trump's "thoughts and prayers" to the families of those killed.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "All my thoughts are with the victims of the attack in Muenster. France shares in Germany's suffering".

Der Spiegel reported that police were investigating a similar incident that occurred in the eastern German city of Cottbus on Friday evening, when a man drove his car into a group of people, injuring two, before fleeing. </s> Updated 6.50 pm

The van used in yesterday's attack is towed away last night Source: DPA/PA Images

GERMAN AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING a deadly van ramming attack are focusing on the reported mental health problems of the driver, as the city of Muenster mourned for the two people killed on a sunny afternoon at an open-air restaurant.

“There are strong indications at the moment that this was a lone perpetrator and that there were no links to the terror scene,” federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters at the site of yesterday’s attacks, where local people laid flowers in memory of the victims.

Far-right opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy had suggested in the immediate aftermath of the attack it might be an Islamist act of terror, while some media reported the killer had links to right-wing extremist organisations.

But there are “no indications of a political motive,” said Hajo Kuhlisch, chief of police in the western city where the attack took place.

Rather, he added, “the motive and origins (of the crime) lie within the perpetrator,” a 48-year-old German identified as Jens R. who shot himself dead immediately after the crime.

A source close to the investigation told AFP there was a record of incidents related to the perpetrator’s impaired mental health since 2015, and that he had talked of suicide in late March.

Prosecutors said he faced allegations of threats, property damage and fraud in 2015 and 2016, all of which were dropped.

And broadcaster NTV reported he had threatened family members with an axe in 2014 and 2015.

The two victims killed in Muenster were a 51-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man, both from northern Germany.

As well as the dead, police said 20 were injured — some life-threateningly.

Police officers outside the city's cathedral. Source: DPA/PA Images

The foreign ministry in the Netherlands said two of those hurt were Dutch, one of whom was in a critical condition.

In the van, police found the gun used by the driver to kill himself, a blank-firing pistol and some powerful fireworks.

A search of the man’s Muenster apartment late last night turned up more fireworks and a deactivated AK47 assault rifle.

Police have appealed to the public for information, setting up a website where people can upload photos and videos.

‘No Islamist connection’

Armed police cordoned off a wide area around the scene of the attack, urging residents to avoid the city centre to allow investigators to get to work amid initial fears the country had suffered another extremist assault.

“I was on my way home through the city here and saw firefighters and ambulances everywhere. I thought something really terrible must have happened,” said Hubert Reckermann, a local man in his late 60s.

“It’s still unbelievable for me, but these days anything can happen. You can’t really defend yourself against people with psychiatric problems.”

Germany has been on especially high alert for jihadist attacks after several claimed by the Islamic State group.

But “we know with high probability that it was a lone perpetrator, it was a German, not a refugee,” said North Rhine-Westphalia state interior minister Herbert Reul.

“We know with high probability that there was no Islamist background” to the attack, inflicted as locals and tourists enjoyed a sunny spring day, he added.

Flowers at the location of the van attack. Source: DPA/PA Images

‘Deeply shaken’

Merkel said she was “deeply shaken” by the incident and pledged that “everything possible will be done to determine what was behind this act and to help the victims”.

The presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, as well as Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sent their condolences.

The attack is the latest in a string across Europe in which vehicles have been used to attack crowds of people in public places.

In a Berlin assault in December 2016, Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri hijacked a truck and murdered its Polish driver before killing another 11 people and wounding dozens more by ploughing the heavy vehicle through a Christmas market.

He was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later while on the run.

In France, the Islamic State group claimed a 2016 truck attack in Nice on its July 14 national holiday that killed 86.

And in Spain, the jihadists also claimed a rampage along Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard in August 2017 that killed 14 and left more than 100 injured.

© – AFP, 2018
A man drives a van into a group of people in Münster, Germany, killing two and injuring 30. The driver then shoots and kills himself.