At least 4 dead as van drives into crowd in Germany’s Muenster, driver shoots himself: Police

German authorities were “assuming” the Muenster incident was an attack, though there was no official confirmation, reports said.

world Updated: Apr 07, 2018 21:54 IST

Police and first responders work at the scene when several people were killed and injured when a car ploughed into pedestrians in Muenster, western Germany on April 7, 2018. (DPA via AFP Photo)

A van drove into a group of people in the western German city of Muenster on Saturday, killing at least four bystanders before killing himself, police said.

A police spokeswoman in the western city told AFP that the driver of the vehicle “shot himself” after driving into a crowd of people and leaving about 30 people with injuries. (Live updates)

“There are deaths and injured. Please avoid the area, we are on scene,” the regional police service said on Twitter, requesting people not to speculate about the incident.

According to the online edition of the Spiegel magazine, German authorities were “assuming” the incident was an attack, though there was no immediate official confirmation.

A security source said: “The scenario is such that an attack cannot be ruled out.”

Armed police were deployed and officers urged residents to avoid the city centre to allow investigators to get to work.

Images broadcast by German television showed several police and firefighting vehicles clustered around a street in the centre of the picturesque medieval city of 300,000 people.

Mass-selling daily Bild reported in its online edition that three people had died in the incident. It showed pictures of where police had cordoned off an area of the city.

Past attacks

Germany has experienced a number of terror attacks in recent years, including through the deadly use of vehicles.

In December 19, 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 Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for that attack.

IS also claimed several similar attacks in Europe, including a rampage along Barcelonas 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 Frances national July 14 holiday, killing 86 people.