Munich attacker was ‘failed asylum seeker who shared Islamist posts before ploughing Mini into crowd injuring 28’

THE suspect who rammed a crowd in Munich, injuring at least 28 people including children, was a failed asylum seeker who posted Islamist social media content before the attack, reports claim. A 24-year-old Afghan man is said to have "sped up" in a Mini Cooper before ploughing into around 1,500 Verdi demonstrators - a Berlin-based German trade union - in the Bavarian capital. Police said the suspect is an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who, the region's interior minister added, was known to cops in relation to drug and theft incidents.

News website Spiegel say the suspect is a Kabul-born man named Farhad N, born in 2001. He is alleged to have posted Islamist content on social media before the heinous incident. Farhad N arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in December 2016 as an "unaccompanied minor" and was taken into the care of a youth welfare facility, having previously been in Italy, German Press Agency reports. He applied for asylum which was rejected in 2017 and tried to appeal it - without success.

Farhad N was later granted what's called a toleration permit, which means his deportation was suspended, Spiegel claims, but he has been required to leave the country since autumn of 2020. Extremism and terror cops are probing the Munich car plough after the Minister-President of Bavaria, Markus Söder, labelled the shocking incident a "suspected attack". German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the suspect cannot hope for leniency and must leave the country.

He also spoke more widely about immigration in Germany. Scholz said: "It is very important for me to get the message across that anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not only be severely punished and sent to prison, they must also expect that they will not be able to continue their stay in Germany.". He explained that this is "why" he got the government "to resume and carry out repatriations to Afghanistan, despite the lack of diplomatic relations".

The Chancellor added: "We have already organised such a flight with criminals. "We are also in the process of doing this in other cases. And not just once, but on an ongoing basis. "This perpetrator cannot count on any leniency, he must be punished and he must leave the country.". The shocking smash comes just before the Munich Security Conference starts on Friday, with US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arriving later today.

It's not thought to be connected with the Munich Security Conference that begins this weekend. Terrified witnesses said they heard gunshots at the scene, and Munich cops have since confirmed a shot was fired "during the arrest". At least two people are said to be "very seriously injured" and a two-year-old has been critically injured, Bild reports. Munich police spokesman, Christian Huber, has revealed key moments leading up to the suspected attack.

A police vehicle was travelling at the rear of the Verdi trade union rally before a "vehicle approached and came up" behind it. He said the car "then moved to overtake" the police vehicle and "accelerated" before smashing into the back of the rally. As the Mini ploughed into the crowd, pedestrians desperately bolted for cover in shops and residential buildings that line either side of the street, according to witnesses.

Munich's mayor Dieter Reiter spoke out soon after the shocking incident occurred and confirmed that children are among those injured. He told Bild: "The police chief has just informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and unfortunately many people were injured, including children. "I am deeply shocked. My thoughts are with the injured.". Unconfirmed reports from eyewitnesses in the horror incident claim there were two men involved in the crowd plough, with one of them shot by police and carried away, according to BR24.

Munich cops have repeated that the driver was arrested but said they're unable to confirm reports that another person was involved. Emotional pictures show shoes, umbrellas and bags discarded on the floor after victims presumably ran for their lives. Other harrowing image shows a collapsed pram on the ground. One eyewitness on the scene said the Mini hit a woman and child, explaining that they were "apparently lying under the car".

Around 10:30am Munich time the driver is said to have accelerated before ploughing into demonstrators. On Thursday, some city employees went on strike to demonstrate for an eight per cent pay increase as well as higher bonuses and three additional days off. Public organisations like those running sports centres, hospitals, daycare centres, and street cleaners all took part in the strike action. The Munich Verdi managing director Claudia Weber who was waiting for the group to make their way to Königsplatz, a seven minute walk from where the incident took place, spoke on behalf of Verdi.