The suspect in a stabbing attack at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial that seriously injured a Spanish tourist is a Syrian refugee who apparently wanted to kill Jews, investigators said Saturday.
At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a backpack containing a prayer mat, a Quran, a sheet with verses from the Quran as well as Friday's date, and the knife apparently used in the attack.
The attack took place two days before a German national election in which migration has become a top issue, pushed to the forefront by five deadly attacks involving immigrants over the past nine months.
The investigation so far points to a link between the attack and the conflict in the Middle East, police and prosecutors said.
The 19-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday evening, nearly three hours after the attack, when he approached officers with blood on his hands and clothes.
