New details

What is known about the Mannheim stabber

Following the knife attack at an event organized by the Islam-critical movement Pax Europa (BPE) in Mannheim, an arrest warrant has been issued for the 25-year-old attacker. One of his victims, a young police officer, is now dead. The man was apparently not known to the authorities.

The man, who was born in Afghanistan, had been living in Germany since 2014. He was married and had two children, the authorities announced on Saturday. The attacker had injured five members of the citizens' movement Pax Europa and a police officer, the latter critically, on the market square in Mannheim at around midday on Friday.

On Friday evening, the police searched the apartment of the suspect, Sulaiman A. He lived in a high-rise building in Heppenheim, Hesse, around 35 kilometers northeast of Mannheim. During the raid, the investigators confiscated data carriers, which are now being analyzed. A. was born in Herat, Afghanistan.

Perpetrator inconspicuous so far
According to the German newspaper "Der Spiegel", the Afghan had previously been inconspicuous and therefore unknown to the authorities. However, investigators are currently assuming an Islamist motive for the crime.

According to the information, A. injured a total of six people with his knife. It is now also clear that the policeman's life could not be saved. BPE board member Michael Stürzenberger, who was injured in the attack, spoke from hospital on Saturday. "It was really close yesterday," he wrote on Telegram.

Anti-Islam activist thanks doctors
Stürzenberger reported on Saturday that he had suffered several stab wounds, one of which in his thigh had caused "considerable blood loss". He was also injured in the face. Stürzenberger thanked all the doctors involved as well as the facial surgeons "who came all the way from a specialist clinic".

The attack caused horror in Germany, with the Federal Chancellor also commenting on the knife attack:

Shortly after the attack, a video of the crime circulated on the internet: It shows the attacker stabbing several people and bystanders shouting: "Get the knife away!" An officer can also be seen shooting the attacker. Several police officers then restrain the man on the ground. According to the police, the public prosecutor's office and the state criminal investigation department, only one shot was fired. The Afghan is not fit for questioning at the moment.