'Several dead' as van driven into crowd in Germany
A man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in western Germany today, killing several of them before taking his own life, police said.
"There are several dead," a police spokeswoman said, adding that several of those injured were in critical condition. A police spokesman said around 30 people were injured.
A security source added: "The scenario is such that an attack cannot be ruled out."
The van drove into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists, the police spokeswoman said.
Mass-selling daily Bild reported in its online edition that three people had died in the incident.
Police said they were not looking for further suspects after the driver took his own life after the crash, but on Twitter they urged people to avoid Muenster city centre.
"The danger is over," the police spokeswoman said.
"I am shocked by the news from Muenster," said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.
"My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," she added. "I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work."
The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people, and also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people.
On 19 December 2016, Tunisian national Anis Amri, 24, hijacked a truck and slammed it into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48.
Amri was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later after travelling through several European countries. The so-called Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.
IS also claimed several similar attacks in Europe, including a rampage along Barcelona's Las Ramblas boulevard in August 2017 that killed 14 and left more than 100 injured.
The deadliest such incident in recent years was in the French resort city of Nice in 2016, where a man rammed a truck into a crowd on France's national 14 July holiday, killing 86 people.
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