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TEHRAN, April 08 - German police were scrambling in the early hours of Sunday to understand the motives of a man who drove a van into a crowd at an open-air restaurant, killing two people before shooting himself.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - It was not clear whether he hoped to commit a so-called "murder-suicide" or had political motivations.
But authorities appeared near-certain that there was no Islamist connection to the violence in the historic centre of Muenster.
As well as the dead, police said 20 were injured -- six of them seriously -- amid the broken and upturned tables and chairs seen strewn across the pavement in images of the scene.
Germany has been on especially high alert for such terrorist attacks after several claimed by the Islamic State group.
The worst of those saw a Tunisian asylum seeker ram a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12.
In the Saturday afternoon attack, inflicted as locals and tourists enjoyed a sunny spring day, there was "no indication at the moment that there is any Islamist connection," said North Rhine-Westphalia state interior minister Herbert Reul.
While stressing that the investigation was still ongoing, Reul said the perpetrator was believed to be a German citizen "and not, as has been claimed everywhere, a refugee or something like that".
Media reports said the driver, identified only as Jens R., had a history of mental health problems.
Public broadcaster ZDF said the man had recently attempted suicide while rolling news channel NTV said he had spoken of a desire to bring as much attention as possible to his death.
Source: AFP
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