The Afghan migrant who plowed his car into a demonstration in Munich, injuring 36 people — including a mother and her 2-year-old child — was a bodybuilding “Islamic extremist” who said “Allahu Akbar” after his arrest, officials said Friday.
Farhad Noori, a 24-year-old who had just been turned down for asylum, admitted to intentionally driving a mini-cooper into the 1,500-strong crowd in Munich in what appears to be an “Islamic extremist attack,” German law enforcement officials announced Friday, according to the Sun.
Prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said that during a two-hour police interrogation Noori “gave an explanation that I would summarise as religious motivation.”
That emerged soon after Noori was detained, when he began praying — and told cops “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” Tillman said.
Noori’s online posts then showed “indications of an extremist background,” prosecutors told Die Zeit — including an alarming one that said: “Eradicate all those who are bad to Islam.”
The suspect is a security guard and a bodybuilder who won a regional championship that made him a minor celebrity in the local fitness world, according to German tabloid Bild.
He also had over 100,000 followers on his social media accounts where he flexed his muscles, wore designer clothing and drove fast sports cars.
He’s believed to have acted alone and has no known connections to any terrorist organizations, Tillman said.
Noori was born in Kabul in 2001 and first arrived in Germany from Afghanistan at the end of 2016 as an unaccompanied minor, according to German reports. He applied for asylum, but it was rejected.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for Noori to be deported.
“This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country,” Mr Scholz said.
“If it was an attack, we must take consistent action against possible perpetrators with all means of justice,” he added.
Around 10:30 a.m., Noori approached the gathering from behind and then drove into the crowd, before he was arrested by cops who “shot at the vehicle,” deputy police chief Christian Huber said.
Dozens were wounded — with some trapped under the Mini, witnesses said.
A mother and a two-year-old are critically hurt while another eight are seriously injured.
It remains unclear why he targeted the demonstration by Verdi, or Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, one of Germany’s largest trade unions that represents service workers.
The attack was just a mile away from where the German city hosted a conference on Friday of world leaders, including Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The recent attacks have refueled debates over safety and immigration in Germany, which will hold federal elections on Feb. 23 after Scholz lost a confidence vote in December.
