Berlin Pride attack suspect ‘convicted terrorist’ who tried to join Islamic State
An 'intensive manhunt' of around 2,000 police officers are searching for Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese descent following the attack
The man suspected of driving into a crowd at Berlin Pride is allegedly a convicted terrorist who attempted to join the Islamic State and remains at large.
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One woman has been killed and 29 more people injured, with some in a life-threatening condition, after a vehicle mowed down a crowd near Berlin's Pride celebrations on Saturday evening.
Many details about the attack remain unclear, but police say the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city's central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate.
Around 2,000 police officers are conducting an “intensive manhunt” for 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, who the police say may be "armed and dangerous".
He is 6ft 3in tall, slim, with dark hair and a chinstrap beard and was last seen wearing a black hoodie and white bottoms. Police have advised the public to avoid direct contact with him.
Ballout was reportedly already well known to German authorities. He was previously arrested in Lebanon for trying to join Islamic State in Syria and planning a terror attack, but the roots of his radicalisation are unclear.
After his arrest, he was returned to Germany, where the Die Welt newspaper says he was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison for plotting a serious act of violence that threatened the state.
The prosecution called for a sentence of two years and 10 months, according to the report.
Ballout was held in custody at the Plötzensee juvenile detention centre and subsequently released at the end of his sentence in May.
He was ordered to attend a de-radicalisation programme after posting material supporting Islamic State online.
He attended two classes and was expected to attend a third on Monday. Ballout was reportedly in the “clearing process” where the danger he posed to the public was being assessed.
Advisors for the programme told Die Welt that despite Ballout being friendly and receptive to instructions, he remained “inscrutable”, which raised concerns about his transparency.
According to security sources who monitored his phone, Ballout had taken on a more radical tone when speaking to acquaintances over recent weeks, Die Welt reported.
It is believed that he hired the white van used in the attack using his own ID documents.
His apartment was raided by armed police near Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin on Sunday, near where the Pride parade began and under a mile from where he allegedly ploughed into the crowd.
His sister’s apartment was also raided, and police are searching underground tunnels near Anhalter station near the crime scene.
It is believed that more than one person exited the vehicle after it struck a tree following the attack.
Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s interior minister, said on Sunday that all evidence so far surrounding the incident indicated an Islamist terrorist attack.
“We are dealing here with a suspected perpetrator, who had previously drawn attention to himself through a high volume of criminal offences, radicalisation and affiliation with the Islamist scene,” Mr Dobrindt said.
Mr Dobrindt said, "we cannot rule out the possibility of further terrorist attacks, although that is not typical in these circumstances."
He said that the manhunt was their "key focus."
Mr Dobrindt said that, after ramming into people with the van, the suspect "then attacked the crowd with some type of blade, it might have been a machete, and also severely injured those people".
Mr Dobrindt said he is "dumbstruck" and "deeply shaken by these horrific events", and that their thoughts, grief and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones and the injured.
"We hope there is a chance that those still fighting for their lives will be able to overcome this difficult situation."
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner thanked the response of the emergency services.
He said that it was "an Islamic terror attack on our way of life and coexistence, our liberal democracy, our openness, and our freedom."
He added: "This was an attack on all of us."
Wegner said that there was a "high level of security" at the Pride event and that the collision occurred near the event.
He said the van did not go directly into the main crowd "because the perpetrator wasn't able to make it there, because that had been secured by police".
However, he says that 400m from the event site, there were people on their way to or from the event, as well as others walking around.
He says they now need to act "as quickly as possible to investigate the perpetrator or perpetrators".
