Terror cops probe Munich ram attack that injured 28 including children as Afghan asylum seeker ploughed Mini into crowd
EXTREMISM and terror cops are probing the Munich car attack that has injured at least 28 people including children, with an Afghan asylum seeker arrested.
The shocking smash comes just before the Munich Security Conference starts on Friday, with US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arriving later today.
The Mini Cooper is said to have "sped up" and ploughed into the back of around 1,500 Verdi demonstrators - a Berlin-based German trade union - on Seidlstrasse in Munich.
The Minister-President of Bavaria, Markus Söder, labelled the shocking incident a "suspected attack".
And the state's justice minister, Georg Eisenreich, said a prosecutors department that investigates extremism and terror was looking into terrifying case.
It's not thought to be connected with the Munich Security Conference that begins this weekend.
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Police said the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who, the region's interior minister added, was known to cops in relation to drug and theft incidents.
News website say the suspect is a Kabul-born man named Farhad N.
He is said to have posted Islamist content on social media before the heinous incident.
Farhad N arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in December 2016 and had his asylum application rejected.
He was later granted what's called a toleration permit, which means his deportation was suspended, the website claims.
Terrified witnesses said they heard gunshots at the scene, and Munich cops have since confirmed a shot was fired "during the arrest".
At least two people are said to be "very seriously injured" and a two-year-old has been critically injured, reports.
Munich police spokesman, Christian Huber, has revealed key moments leading up to the suspected attack.
Munich cops have repeated that the driver was arrested but said they're unable to confirm reports that another person was involved.
Emotional pictures show shoes, umbrellas and bags discarded on the floor after victims presumably ran for their lives.
Other harrowing image shows a collapsed pram on the ground.
One eyewitness on the scene said the Mini hit a woman and child, explaining that they were "apparently lying under the car".
A demonstrator told Bayerischer Rundfunk: "I was in the demonstration and saw that a man was lying under the car.
"Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked."
They claimed police shot at the car window.
The front of the Mini also looks to have been completely smashed in - suggesting the driver was travelling at speed before ploughing into demonstrators.
Munich cops initially said on X: "A vehicle drove into a group of people at the scene. Several people were injured.
"We have a large force on site.
"The driver was able to be secured on site and currently poses no further danger."
Around 10:30am Munich time the driver is said to have accelerated before ploughing into demonstrators.
On Thursday, some city employees went on strike to demonstrate for an eight per cent pay increase as well as higher bonuses and three additional days off.
Public organisations like those running sports centres, hospitals, daycare centres, and street cleaners all took part in the strike action.
The Munich Verdi managing director Claudia Weber who was waiting for the group to make their way to Königsplatz, a seven minute walk from where the incident took place, spoke on behalf of Verdi.
She told Bild: "It's all so unbelievable. We are totally shocked and are incredibly afraid for our colleagues who were part of the demonstration.
"We heard that the car drove straight into the demonstration on purpose.
"Hopefully there will be no deaths."
The incident comes after the country has seen a wave of recent attacks.
Three weeks ago a two-year-old boy and a man were killed in a stabbing in Aschaffenburg, also in Bavaria.
This attack is thought to have been carried out by another Afghan asylum seeker whose application to stay in the country had been rejected.
In December, 2024, six people were killed and over 200 injured when a car rammed into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg sparking far-right protests.
On Thursday as the incident in Munich unfolded, an Afghan man named Sulaiman A went on trial in Stuttgart for a knife attack on May 31, 2024 in Mannheim.
The suspect with suspected jihadist motives is accused of launching the attack that killed a policeman and injured five others at an anti-Islam rally.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder used this most recent incident and the wave of other attacks to call for change in the country.
The 58-year-old said: "It is suspected that this was an attack.
"The attack shows that something has to change in Germany - and quickly!
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It comes as Germany's approach to asylum seekers and security faces huge scrutiny as the issues come to a head before the national election on February 23.