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Ansbach explosion: attacker was Syrian asylum seeker, says German official – latest Ansbach explosion: attacker was rejected Syrian asylum seeker, say German officials – latest
(35 minutes later)
3.26am BST
03:26
Contents of bomb could have killed many more - minister
The contents of the backpack could have killed many more people, Hermann said Reuters reports a news site as saying.
The material used to make the bomb came from metal items used in “wood manufacturing”, Janek reports Hermann as saying.
Hermann did not specify whether these were nails or screws or some other item.
Updated
at 3.28am BST
3.23am BST
03:23
Suspect 'had abused our protection' - Bavarian interior minister
Here’s more from the press conference via Janek ...
Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann, a member of Bavaria’s conservative CSU party, said:
It is terrible that someone abuses the opportunity to find protection here in such a way. I am appalled by that.
We have to do all we can so that such violence in our country committed by asylum seekers who have come to our country will not spread any further.
3.10am BST
03:10
Hermann has said that the dead man was denied asylum but was allowed to remain in Germany because of the “situation in Syria”.
3.05am BST
03:05
Janek Schmidt, our reporter in Munich, is following the press conference.
Updated
at 3.06am BST
2.56am BST
02:56
Suspect 'had tried to commit suicide twice before' – minister
Joachim Hermann, the Bavarian interior minister, has told the press conference that the bomber had been denied asylum a year ago, Reuters reports.
He had tried to “commit suicide twice before”, Hermann said. But it was not clear whether he had been trying to kill just himself or others as well in the explosion on Sunday.
Updated
at 3.07am BST
2.49am BST2.49am BST
02:4902:49
The man had been in Germany two years, according to reports from the press conference which has just started in Ansbach.The man had been in Germany two years, according to reports from the press conference which has just started in Ansbach.
He blew himself up after being turned away from the music festival, officials said, according to AP.He blew himself up after being turned away from the music festival, officials said, according to AP.
2.46am BST2.46am BST
02:4602:46
'Attacker was 27-year-old Syrian denied asylum''Attacker was 27-year-old Syrian denied asylum'
The suspect was a 27-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who had been denied the right to stay in Germany, Bavaria’s top security official has said.The suspect was a 27-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who had been denied the right to stay in Germany, Bavaria’s top security official has said.
2.41am BST2.41am BST
02:4102:41
Ansbach is the base for a US army garrison at Katterbach army airfield outside the town. It is home to hundreds of troops of the 12th combat aviation brigade, which its website says provides “full-spectrum combat aviation operations in support of the United States Army”.Ansbach is the base for a US army garrison at Katterbach army airfield outside the town. It is home to hundreds of troops of the 12th combat aviation brigade, which its website says provides “full-spectrum combat aviation operations in support of the United States Army”.
The garrison has dispatched troops all over Europe and the Middle East and South Asia in reent years.The garrison has dispatched troops all over Europe and the Middle East and South Asia in reent years.
2.13am BST2.13am BST
02:1302:13
Here are some responses to the bombing on Twitter.Here are some responses to the bombing on Twitter.
2.10am BST2.10am BST
02:1002:10
We’re still waiting for the press conference which was due to start at 3am German time (2am BST) but seemes to have been delayed.We’re still waiting for the press conference which was due to start at 3am German time (2am BST) but seemes to have been delayed.
In the meantime, footage of the music festival from earlier in the evening has been posted on Facebook by the organisers, Ansbach Open. It shows people in a picturesque old square swaying and waving their arms in time to the music.In the meantime, footage of the music festival from earlier in the evening has been posted on Facebook by the organisers, Ansbach Open. It shows people in a picturesque old square swaying and waving their arms in time to the music.
UpdatedUpdated
at 2.14am BSTat 2.14am BST
2.03am BST
02:03
Bomb disposal experts are on their way to the scene in Ansbach to determine the cause of the blast, AFP reports. The town centre has been sealed off.
A spokesman for the regional interior minister said: “The explosion was set off deliberately.” The minister, Joachim Herrmann, was said to be on his way to the town.
Updated
at 2.06am BST
1.56am BST
01:56
Janek Schmidt, our reporter in Munich, has been following developments in Ansbach and says that local media report that the suspect had been trying to enter the festival earlier in the evening.
He has this latest dispatch:
According to Reporter 24, a news site, emergency workers have reported that the detonation came from a backpack that exploded. A security guard at the entrance to the music festival reported that a man with a backpack had been trying to get into the area. He had been turned away at the entrance and then went to the restaurant. Very briefly afterwards the explosion occurred at the restaurant.
Janek also reports that there will be a press conference at 3am German time so we will try to bring updates as soon as possible.
1.51am BST
01:51
UPDATE: 12 injured, three seriously
The number of injured people has increased from 11 to 12, the police say. Three have suffered serious injuries, the authorities said.
1.48am BST
01:48
Suspect was wearing a backpack, say police
Police in Ansbach have just said that the suspected attacker was carrying a backpack when the explosion occurred.
Police did not say whether the suspect intended to blow himself up or not. There were no other details on his identity.
1.34am BST
01:34
Germany has been in a heightened state of alert since the Munich shootings on Friday. People have been urged to stay at home as the chancellor, Angela Merkel, tries to calm fears about a string of attacks on civilians.
In addition to the Munich shootings, a teenager was shot dead in Würzburg in Bavaria last Monday after attacking people on a train. On Sunday a woman was killed with a machete in Reutlingen, also in Bavaria.
A Guardian editorial today tries to make sense of the “fearful” mood gripping Europe, which has also endured the Bastille Day attacks in Nice and the Paris terror attacks last November. The reasons behind the incidents are all different but the cumulative effect is to increase fear, it says.
All raise genuine fears about wider personal safety. All fuel a more alarmist public mood and debate. In part, that is because they are so random, never directly provoked by the victims, except in the psychosis of the attacker. In part, it is because they often have radical Islamist terror connections or echoes, though not apparently in the Munich case, which plays into anti-immigrant fears.
But it urges Europe to hold its nerve.
Read the whole article here:
Related: The Guardian view on the Munich killings: a fearful Europe must hold its nerve | Editorial
1.20am BST
01:20
The music festival in the town for 2,500 people on Sunday has now been cancelled. Armed police are patrolling the streets of the historic town.
1.12am BST
01:12
'Perpretrator killed by device,' police believe
The police in Ansbach have said that the explosion was “deliberately brought about”, our reporter in the region Janek Schimdt says.
The dead person is probably the perpetrator of the explosion, according to the “current knowledge” of the police.
The police confirmed that another 11 people were injured in the incident.
1.03am BST
01:03
Ansbach is town of about 40,000 people near Nuremberg in Bavaria.
The region has already been shaken by the shooting dead of nine people by a teeenage gunman in Munich 200 kms away on Friday.
Updated
at 1.36am BST
12.59am BST
00:59
'Explosive device,' says mayor
The city’s mayor, Carda Seidel, told local media in the early hours of Monday that the blast in Ansbach was caused by an “explosive device”.
The website for a group of local newspapers, nordbayern.de, reported that Seidel said it was not yet clear if it was an attack or how the device was triggered.
Seidel said the explosion had occurred at a wine bar or restaurant.
Local media were also reporting that the bar was at the entrance to an open-air music festival being staged in the town.
12.49am BST
00:49
Reports are coming in of an explosion in the southern German town of Ansbach.
The explosion has killed one person and injured 11 according to reports.
A spokesman for the Bavarian interior ministry said the explosion was not an accident and appears to have been intentional.
Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann was en route to the site, the spokesman said.
Updated
at 1.01am BST