OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
German police have arrested a terror suspect after he allegedly hijacked a truck and plowed it into several vehicles waiting at a traffic light.
Israel National News reports at least 16 people were hit during the incident. Seven of these people were taken to the hospital as a result of injuries they suffered, Daily Mail reports. One person taken to the hospital was in “very critical condition.”
The suspect, a 32-year-old Syrian man, was arrested and more than 60 police officers dressed in riot gear later raided his apartment.
Breitbart News reports the suspect was identified as an illegal immigrant named “Mohammed O.,” who does not have a valid permit to be in Germany.
According to Daily Mail, the suspect has a criminal record:
They used plastic explosives to break down the door and a beagle searched the flat.
Results from the raid have not yet been released.
It is believed the man was previously known to police for dangerous bodily harm, drug possession, groping a 16-year-old girl and shoplifting but not extremism, according to Bild.
And the federal prosecutor’s office, which handles terror cases in Germany, said it doesn’t currently consider the investigation to be its responsibility.
German Police Arrest Syrian Migrant After Hijacked Truck Rammed into Traffic, Seven Injured https://t.co/KEW16erX17
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 8, 2019
It is unclear at this time what motivated the suspect to carry out the attack, but witnesses at the scene claim the driver was yelling “Allah” at the time of his arrest.
Other witnesses claim the suspect looked high on drugs during the assault.
Here’s more from the report:
News agency dpa, also citing unidentified security sources, reported that the truck driver was a Syrian who arrived in Germany in 2015 and that there was no indication so far of a terrorist motive, but it also can’t be ruled out.
Germany has been on alert following several jihadist attacks in recent years claimed by the Islamic State group.
The most deadly was committed in 2016 by 23-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, who killed 12 people when he stole a truck and plowed it through a Berlin Christmas market.
Police staged a major deployment of officers and vehicles, with a helicopter circling overhead the city of 35,000, about an hour’s drive from Germany’s financial capital of Frankfurt.
