Sawt Falasteen - Two dead, five hurt as car hits crowd in German city: police

Politicians and police treated the rampage in the southwestern city of Mannheim as a suspected deliberate act after Germany has been shocked by two deadly car-ramming attacks since late last year.

"Once again we mourn with the relatives of the victims of a senseless act of violence and fear for the injured," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a post on X, adding: "We cannot accept this."

The driver ploughed a small black Ford passenger vehicle through a downtown pedestrian shopping area around 12:15 local time (1115 GMT) where a carnival market was located with dozens of food stalls, rides and games.

"It's heartbreaking," cafe owner Kasim Timur, 57, was quoted as telling news site Der Spiegel, adding that one of his staff had seen seriously injured people, among them children.

Police with heavy weapons soon shut down and evacuated the inner city as helicopters flew overhead and citizens were told to stay indoors via warning apps during the "life-threatening situation".

With the sole suspect arrested and being treated in hospital, police later said that "at the current stage of the investigation, there is no suspicion of a political background".

Baden-Wuerttemberg state's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said the suspect arrested at the scene was a 40-year-old German man from the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

"The police are working hard to clarify what happened, the background to the crime and the perpetrator's motivation," Strobl added.

Enes Yildiz 24, who works in tax consulting in a nearby office, recounted that "I just heard a very, very loud noise. It was rather extraordinary, not a noise that you hear every day."

He went down to the street and saw a dead body lying on the ground and pools of blood, he said. The motionless victim appeared to have been thrown through the air by the impact.

"There were a lot of people crying, people shouting for help, people calling the police."

He walked further down the street to witness the carnage at the city's central Paradeplatz: "It was a mess, as if it had been hit by a bomb. The whole place was in disarray."

He saw more victims lying in the street, Yildiz recounted. "I was shocked. I grew up here, I work here every day. I walk along the route where it happened every day."

- Spate of attacks -

A reporter for news channel NTV said soon after the car hit the crowd that "at least one person is lying covered under a tarpaulin" and that children's shoes were among the clothes and debris scattered on the ground.

The intensive care unit of Mannheim's university hospital quickly declared a disaster alert, readying for a wave of casualties needing emergency treatment.

German cities have seen several violent attacks in recent months, including stabbing sprees and car ramming attacks.

Security was a major theme in last month's general election, which was won by the conservative CDU/CSU alliance led by Friedrich Merz, the presumed next chancellor.

The incident "is a stark reminder to us: we must do everything we can to prevent such crimes... Germany must become a safe country again," Merz wrote on X.

Last month a man drove a car into a trade union rally in the southern city of Munich, killing a two-year-old girl and her mother. Police arrested a 24-year-old Afghan suspect.

In December a car-ramming attack targeted a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and wounding hundreds. Police arrested a Saudi man at the scene.

Mannheim itself was the scene of a stabbing attack at an anti-Islam rally in May in which a policeman was killed and five others wounded, with a Syrian man now on trial over the attack.

Amid the spate of attacks, which fuelled support for the far-right AfD, Merz pledged a "zero tolerance" law and order drive and tough restrictions on irregular immigration.

Authorities were on high alert as Monday is the high point of traditional German carnival celebrations before the beginning of Lent.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said earlier that festivities were taking place "with high security precautions".

Mannheim had seen thousands take to the streets on Sunday for its own carnival parade.

Faeser cancelled her visit to the Rose Monday parade in Cologne to travel to Mannheim, where she was expected to address the media.

K.AbuDahab--SF-PST