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Van crashes into crowd in Germany city of Munster, killing three people and injuring at least 20 | |
(35 minutes later) | |
At least three people have been killed and 20 others injured after a van drove into a crowd in the western German city of Munster. | |
The van crashed into people sitting in front of the famous Grosser Kiepenkerl bar in the city’s old town district. | |
The driver shot himself dead, said Andreas Bode, a spokesman for the police. | |
Six of the injured were in severe condition. | |
Mr Bode said the driver’s identity was not yet known. | |
Police said a suspicious object was found in the van. | |
They said they were examining what it was and whether it was dangerous. | |
Police told German news agency dpa the object was the reason a large area around the scene was sealed off after the crash. | |
On Twitter, they urged the public to “avoid the area near the Kiepenkerl pub” where a large-scale police operation is underway. | |
Police said it was too early to speculate about the motive behind the crash. | |
They said they were not looking for further suspects. | |
A security source told Reuters: “The scenario is such that an attack cannot be ruled out.” | A security source told Reuters: “The scenario is such that an attack cannot be ruled out.” |
The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm killed five people, and has evoked memories of a truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people in December 2016. | |
Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed it into the crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others. | |
A spokeswoman for the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said “our thoughts are with the victims and their families” and called the crash “terrible news”. | |
“I am shocked by the news from Muenster,” said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor 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.” | |
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