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CRIME

Police in southern Germany catch suspected murderer after five-day manhunt

A 40-year-old fugitive was arrested in Baden-Württemberg on Tuesday afternoon. Police suspect him of murdering his son and two other people at a party to celebrate the boy's first day at school.

Published: 20 September 2017 09:41 CEST
Police in southern Germany catch suspected murderer after five-day manhunt
Police search for the suspect in the vicinity of Villingendorf. Photo: DPA

The suspect was carrying several bags with him at the time of his arrest, one of which contained a weapon, police sources told DPA. Investigators believe that the weapon is the gun which he used to shoot his three victims.

Police say that the suspect “didn’t look like he had spent the past five days on the run outside.” They are now trying to establish whether someone provided him with a place to stay after he disappeared last Thursday.

The suspect, Drazen D., had a long police record, including for assault.

He is suspected of shooting his six-year-old son, his ex-wife’s partner and a cousin of the partner at a private party to celebrate his son starting school on Thursday in the town of Villingendorf.

The boy’s mother managed to escape the attack and found safety at a neighbour's house.

A three-year-old girl was also present at the party, but she survived.

Drazen D.'s ex-wife had repeatedly reported him to the police and a court had handed him a restraining order. According to unconfirmed media reports, he had threatened his ex-wife before the attack.

CRIME

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

German authorities said Friday they had arrested a 27-year-old Syrian man who allegedly planned an Islamist attack on army soldiers using two machetes in Bavaria.

Published: 13 September 2024 11:17 CEST
Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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