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Two Killed, Several Injured In Car Ramming In Germany

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MANNHEIM/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – At least two people were killed and 11 injured when a car drove into a crowd in Germany’s western city of Mannheim, following warnings about possible Islamic attacks here and elsewhere in Europe, authorities confirmed late Monday.

“The driver is a 40-year-old German from Rhineland-Palatinate,” said Thomas Strobl, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) interior minister Thomas Strobl of Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg state.

German police and prosecutors said that the driver intentionally rammed his car into people and is being investigated for murder and attempted murder.

They explained that the driver shot himself in the mouth when he was detained and had to undergo medical treatment at a hospital.

An ecumenical church service was planned for Tuesday, and colorful carnival events were called off as Germany again plunged into mourning.

This was the second time within a year that Mannheim, a major industrial city, was hit by terror in a public space, while other towns also saw similar attacks.

Eyewitnesses on Monday spoke of “people run over, civilians in panic” right in the midst of what was supposed to be a joyous carnival season.

BLACK FORD

The attacker sped his black Ford from the city’s iconic water tower, racing at high speed down the Planken, Mannheim’s main shopping street, eyewitnesses recalled. His deadly rampage reached full speed near the Galeria department store at the central Paradeplatz (Parade Square).

“This horrific, inhumane attack on peaceful people deeply unsettles us,” said a shaken Mayor Christian Specht.

As a sign of mourning, flags on all municipal buildings were immediately lowered to half-mast ahead of the ecumenical church service, where many grieving believers were expected.

Dozens of emergency personnel provided on-site psychological support.

Juli Sekulic rushed past police barricades with her dog, expressing fear: “I don’t feel safe here anymore. You know, just today, there were still hundreds of people here celebrating Rosenmontag,” said the 29-year-old social worker.

She referred to Rosenmontag of “Rose-Monday,” the highlight of the German carnival season, which had turned bloody

Eduardo Oconpalma, a 36-year-old engineer, added it could have been even worse. “Yesterday, during the carnival parade, hundreds of thousands of people were here.”

THIRD TIME

This marks the third time in just a few months that Germany—where federal elections were recently held has been struck by a vehicle attack targeting civilians.

In December, an Arab doctor drove his BMW vehicle into crowds at the Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, killing a nine-year-old child and four adults while injuring more than 200 others.

Last month, just before the Munich Security Conference, an Afghan asylum seeker—an ISIS sympathizer—plowed his Mini car into a group of unsuspecting trade union demonstrators.

Christoph Heusgen, the outgoing MSC chairman, spoke to delegates as authorities confirmed that a 2-year-old girl and her mother, a 37-year-old woman from Munich, died after they were injured in the tragedy, which also wounded about 40 others.

“We began this conference on Friday when the information came that there were victims of an attack here in Munich. We end this with the news that we have received that two people were actually killed,” Heusgen said at the time.

On Monday, once again, Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stood at the crime scene, looking solemn. Just weeks earlier, she had visited the other location in Munich.

German commentators were quick to say that Monday’s attack was “likely not religious but rather an act by a psychologically disturbed individual mimicking a terror attack.”

HEIGHTENED SECURITY

Yet Germany had already heightened security at carnival parades in cities like Cologne, fearing a potential attack. The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, had issued threats against German festivities, but police said they found “no concrete evidence” of an imminent plot.

Still, out of caution, colorful carnival celebrations were canceled. In the neighboring the Netherlands authorities have also been in high alert following terror threats, Worthy News learned.

By the evening, Mannheim police stated that the attack was “probably not politically motivated.”

As night fell over the mourning nation, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his condolences to the victims and their families. So did Friedrich Merz, the newly elected chancellor, who secured victory last week for his CDU party with a campaign on controlling the influx of asylum seekers amid concerns about Islamic extremism.

“We must do everything we can to prevent such acts,” he stated. “Germany must become a safe country again.”

His sentiments were echoed by residents who still remember an attack in May when Mannheim was the site of another tragedy as police officer Rouven L. was fatally stabbed in the town square.

The attacker, an Afghan asylum seeker, had wounded five right-wing activists before killing the officer. His trial began last month in Stuttgart. In other German cities, such as Münster and Trier, individuals who have severe mental illness have also carried out deadly vehicle attacks but with no apparent political motive, officials say.

Experts warn that disturbed attackers may deliberately seek out public spaces to create maximum shock and disruption inspired by Islamic attacks rocking the European Union’s largest economy and other nations.