The man held in the stab wounds of a Spanish tourist at the Berlin Holocaust memorial may have planned weeks to kill the Jews, according to the German authorities.
The suspect, a 19 -year -old Syrian refugee, wore a copy of the Koran, a prayer mat and a piece of paper with the date of the attack and the verses of the Koran when he was apprehended, suggesting a “religious motivation” , Berlin police said on Saturday. In a joint statement With the prosecutor’s office, they added that the things the suspect had said to the police suggested that for several weeks “a plan to kill the Jews met in his mind” and that the location of the attack also reflected This idea.
Police said they had not excluded links with the Middle East conflict, but had found no evidence connecting the suspect to other groups or individuals. He came to Germany in 2023 as a minor refugee, was a legal resident and had no criminal record, the authorities said, adding that investigating them also if mental illness had played a role in the attack.
The 30 -year -old victim, whose name was not made public, suffered neck injuries which forced him to undergo emergency surgery and to be placed in a coma with medical induction, said officials, But his life was no longer in danger.
The attack took place at the Berlin Memorial to the murdered Jews in Europe, a vast memorial in front of the United States Embassy. He then came that the Germans were preparing to vote in a national division election on Sunday, and in the midst of an increase in anti -Semitism across Europe.
The economic problems of Germany, associated with the frustration of immigration, are central questions for voters during a parliamentary election where the far -right party, alternative for Germany or AFD, has increased in the polls.
The AFD party, which was linked to neonazis, promised to repress immigration and deporting certain immigrants, a message that has gained ground in a country that has undergone a series of attacks perpetrated by people from Afghanistan and of the Middle East and the Middle East.
An Afghanistan asylum seeker struck his car in a union demonstration in Munich on February 13, injuring dozens, and in December, a Saudi citizen killed six people and injured hundreds of others when he led his car through a Christmas market in central Germany.
Lars DOLDER Contributed reports.
