German minister says he 'cannot rule out' further terror attacks, as manhunt continues for 'Islamist' Berlin Pride suspect

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Hours after the apparent attack, many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city's central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate.

Police named 21-year-old Abdul Ballout as the suspect wanted in connection with the attack. He is slim and was last seen wearing a black hoodie and white bottoms.

They have advised the public to avoid direct contact with him as he may be "armed and dangerous".

Abdul is known to local police for his connection to the "Islamist scene" in the area, and it is believed that more than one person exited the vehicle after it struck a tree.

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Speaking in the hours after the attack, German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said that "we cannot rule our the possibility of further terrorist attacks, although that is not typical in these circumstances."

He said that the manhunt was their "key focus."

The interior minister said that the suspect was radicalised and had been born in Germany in 2005. He is a German citizen with a Lebanese background.

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".

Dobrindt also said that the suspect was known to the police and had committed multiple other crimes. He had previously been sentenced to 1 year and 10 months, but this was commuted to a non-custodial sentence.

He 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".

A police spokesperson at the scene said: "According to our latest information, the vehicle drove ... into the Tiergarten around 10 p.m. (2100 BST), injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in the Tiergarten,"

"It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.

"We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin."

Among the injured, eight had serious injuries and of those, three were in a life-threatening condition, a fire brigade spokesperson said.

The police said the vehicle was white, describing it as possibly a car or minivan or minibus. Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying it was a van and that a man emerged from it and fled on foot.

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered peacefully in the German capital for the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe's largest LGBTQ events, before the apparent attack brought it to an abrupt end.

A large number of emergency service vehicles were at the scene.

"It's one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped I'd never have to experience... I'm shocked," said Julian Miethig, who attended the event.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has condemned the attack as a "heinous act", calling it an "attack on our society".

He wrote on X: "What a heinous act in Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world were peacefully celebrating at Christopher Street Day.

"They wanted us to treat each other with kindness and tolerance. This is an attack on our society.

"We are open and freedom-loving—and we will preserve and defend that. The act will be investigated and pursued with the utmost severity.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I wish the injured a swift recovery and thank all emergency responders."

Christopher Street Day draws hundreds of thousands of people to the German capital each year.

The event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and combines a parade with political demands for equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination.

First held in West Berlin in 1979, the CSD has grown from a small demonstration into a major fixture of the city's cultural and political calendar.

The parade is the centrepiece of the CSD, but it is accompanied by a range of political, cultural and party events held across the city.

Germany has in recent years suffered a series of incidents in which a car has charged into a crowd, causing deaths.

In May, a man believed to have mental health issues drove his car into a central pedestrian zone of the eastern German city of Leipzig, killing two people and seriously injuring three.

Last year, two people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man whom authorities described as psychologically unwell drove a car into a group of pedestrians.

Weeks before that, an Afghan national suspected by prosecutors of having carried out a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than 40, including children.

In December 2024, several people were killed in a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

The suspected perpetrator was a psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric who had lived in Germany for almost two decades.