Several people were killed Saturday when a man drove a van into group of diners sitting outside a popular restaurant in Muenster, Germany, according to police.
German authorities said the crash killed two people and left at least 20 more injured, six of them critically.
Authorities are treating the incident as a deliberate attack, reported the German news agency DPA. The driver of the vehicle reportedly shot and killed himself after the crash.
Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Muenster is located, said the driver of the van was a German citizen with a history of mental illness. As of Saturday night, there was no indication the driver had an “Islamist background,” Reul said, according to the Associated Press.
Photos from the scene show a van resting amid wrecked tables and chairs outside the Kiepenkerl Pub, a popular bar in the Muenster’s historic downtown area.
A van is reported to have driven into pedestrians in the city of #Muenster, in #Germany.
Local police confirms that there are deaths and injuries but doesn't give figures. pic.twitter.com/I8aFnRLIc2
— EHA News (@eha_news) April 7, 2018
Police discovered a suspicious object in the van, but would not say what kind of object it was or whether it was dangerous. The object was the reason why authorities cordoned off a large area surrounding the scene of the crash, police said.
Witnesses told police that at least two passengers in the van fled after the crash, Muenster police spokesman Andreas Bode said.
Saturday’s crash occurred on the one-year anniversary of a similar attack in Stockholm, Sweden, where a jihadi terrorist stole a beer truck and drove into pedestrians, killing five people.
An Islamic State-inspired terrorist drove a truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin in December 2016, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is obtained.
Source: The Daily Caller
