Prime Minister Dick Schoof expresses condolences for victims of Munich terrorist attack

Prime Minister Dick Schoof has issued condolences to the victims of what was a suspected terrorist attack in Munich on Thursday morning. A vehicle plowed into people during a demonstration. "Terrible news from Munich, where 28 people have been injured so far in a suspected attack, some seriously," he wrote on X.

“The Dutch authorities are closely keeping an eye on developments.” The Prime Minister said that he had told the German chancellor Olaf Scholz “that our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.”

The suspect is a 24-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan. German media outlets reported that he was known to police for shoplifting and drug-related offenses. The man drove into a group of activists from the trade union Verdi. The incident resulted in 28 people being injured, including children. The police shot at the man to force him to stop his car.

The incident came ten days before the elections on February 23. Migration is a much-discussed subject during the elections. This is not the first terror-related incident in Germany this year, as an Afghan man stabbed people at random in a park in Aschaffenburg, leading to political discussions. It was reported by Der Spiegel that the suspect in this case had likely posted radical Islamic messages on Social Media.

"We stand by our German neighbors in these difficult times," said Schoof. According to German media, the prime minister of the German state of Bavaria also said that this was a suspected attack.