A 19-year-old Syrian man suspected of stabbing a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial had planned for several weeks to kill Jewish people, Berlin police believe.
The attack took place on Friday evening, with the assailant approaching the 30-year-old victim from behind before stabbing him and fleeing the scene.
A man was arrested nearby after police noticed blood stains on his hands and clothing.
The suspect was carrying a prayer rug, a copy of the Quran, and the suspected weapon in his backpack, suggesting “a religious motivation”, police said.
After being taken to hospital with serious wounds to his neck, the victim underwent an operation and was put into an induced coma, but his life is no longer in danger.
Police say they are examining possible connections to the current Middle East conflict – but said there is currently no evidence of links to any groups or individuals.
They are also investigating whether the suspect is suffering from mental illness. He has no previous criminal record and was not known to the police, they added.
Six people who witnessed the attack are receiving counselling from local authorities.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the attack as an “abhorrent and brutal crime” for which the suspect “must be punished with the full force of the law”.
“We will use all means to deport violent offenders back to Syria,” she added.
Several stabbing and car-ramming attacks have taken place in Germany in recent months, in the cities of Mannheim, Solingen, Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich.
All of the alleged attackers were migrants – and immigration has become a core issue for voters ahead of federal elections taking place on Sunday.
The Berlin Holocaust memorial was opened in 2005 to commemorate the six million Jews of Europe murdered by the Nazi regime, and comprises 2,711 stone slabs.
Hours after the attack in the German capital, Swedish police said they had apprehended three men near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, on suspicion of preparing to commit violent crime. It is not believed the incidents are linked.
