BERLIN (AP) — German authorities say they have found evidence of an Islamic extremist motive in last week’s knife attack in the southwestern city of Mannheim that fatally wounded a police officer.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote late Monday on the social media platform
The federal prosecutor’s office confirmed on Tuesday that it had taken over the investigation, citing the significance of the case and the suspicion that it was religiously motivated.
Investigators have said the suspected attacker, a 25-year-old man from Afghanistan who has lived in Germany since 2014 and whose asylum application was reportedly rejected, stabbed several members of a group that describes itself as against “political Islam.”
Five members of the Pax Europa group were injured, along with a police officer who tried to stop the attack. The 29-year-old officer died on Sunday from his injuries.
Police quickly ended the attack by shooting the attacker, who was injured.
The stabbing, about a week before Germany votes in the European Parliament elections, has prompted calls from the opposition and some ruling party politicians for authorities to allow deportations to Afghanistan, which were effectively suspended when the Taliban took power there in 2021, and to Syria.
