"Allahu Akbar" shouts at knife attack in Ansbach - attacker dead

After an attack on several passers-by with two injured, a man near the train station in Ansbach was shot by the police and fatally injured. The alleged perpetrator shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"), a police spokesman said on Thursday evening. However, it cannot yet be confirmed whether there is a terrorist or Islamist background. "But it is being examined intensively."

On Thursday around 6 p.m. there was a police use of firearms, said a police spokesman. According to the police, the suspected attacker was injured so badly that he died on the spot despite immediate resuscitation measures.

As the German Press Agency learned from investigators, the man who was shot is an Afghan national known to the police. The 30-year-old came to Germany in 2015. He was known to the police before the attack on Thursday because of drug offenses and at least one assault. The “Bild” newspaper previously reported on this. The officials initially did not want to comment on the nationality – for tactical reasons, it was said.

According to the police, the man had attacked several passers-by south of the station and injured a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old with at least one knife. According to the police, several alarmed patrol crews managed to stop the man. When he attacked the officers, the police used firearms. The two injured passers-by were not in mortal danger, according to the police. The police officers were not injured.

The crime scene was cordoned off on Thursday evening for forensic measures. Police called on witnesses to what happened to come forward.