{"id":218336,"date":"2026-07-26T16:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/police-hunt-for-suspect-after-one-killed-and-16-injured-in-attack-at-berlin-pride-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T16:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T16:20:09","slug":"police-hunt-for-suspect-after-one-killed-and-16-injured-in-attack-at-berlin-pride-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/police-hunt-for-suspect-after-one-killed-and-16-injured-in-attack-at-berlin-pride-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Police hunt for suspect after one killed and 16 injured in attack at Berlin Pride – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities issue wanted notice for Abdul Ballout, 21, after deadly van ramming described as Islamist terrorism
German authorities have issued a wanted notice for a suspect in a deadly van ramming near Berlin\u2019s Pride festival that has been described as an Islamist attack.
The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, named the chief suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout. German media reported he was a supporter of Islamic State with a criminal conviction in May.
Dobrindt said all \u200bthe evidence surrounding Saturday night\u2019s attack, which left one person dead and at least 16 wounded, pointed to Islamist \u2060terrorism. \u201cWe are dealing \u200bhere with \u200ca suspected \u200cperpetrator, who had previously drawn attention \u200cto himself through a high volume of criminal offences, radicalisation and affiliation with the Islamist scene,\u201d he told \u200ca press conference near the site of the attack.
Police and prosecutors have asked for help in finding Ballout, who is a German citizen. They said he was believed to have injured several people with a moving vehicle on Saturday night, and that one or more people apparently then left that vehicle. Several people were also apparently stabbed, they added.
Sunday\u2019s notice warned the public to avoid \u201cdirect contact\u201d with the suspect, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.
Police had said earlier that they had identified a suspect with ties to Islamist groups in the German capital.
\u201cThe suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamist circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,\u201d police spokesperson Florian Nath said.
Nath added that \u201cwe still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself\u201d.
German media reported on Sunday that the chief suspect last year travelled to the Middle East in a failed attempt to join Islamic State. He was then convicted in Germany<\/a> of \u201cpreparing a serious act of subversive violence,\u201d Bild and Spiegel newspapers reported.
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, vowed to punish those responsible.
The attack forced organisers to cut short one of Europe\u2019s largest Pride events and comes as Germany remains on edge after a series of deadly vehicle and knife attacks.
Hours after the apparent attack many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple \u2060people after charging into the city\u2019s central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate.
Police said those hurt \u201cincluded several with life-threatening injuries\u201d.
The driver of a white van had swerved shortly before 10pm into the Tiergarten, close to the route of the Pride march earlier in the day, hitting people on a path and crashing into a tree, police said.
\u201c[The vehicle] was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track \u200bdown the perpetrator or perpetrators,\u201d police said. Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying that a man emerged from the vehicle and fled on foot.
A manhunt involving helicopters and officers from several German states was under way across the capital on Sunday.
A Berlin fire department spokesperson, Dominik Pretz, said one person died and at least 16 others were injured.
Emergency workers set up a helicopter landing pad near the Reichstag parliament building to transport the injured to hospitals.
Merz said in a statement that he and Dobrindt would \u201cpush to make sure this horrific act is fully investigated and punished\u201d.
Julian Methig, who attended the event, described it as a terrible day. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped I\u2019d never have to experience \u2026 I\u2019m shocked.\u201d
Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the German capital in warm summer sunshine to celebrate the pride parade.
It is known in Germany as Christopher Street Day (CSD), named after the site of the Stonewall Inn in New York City where riots against police raids touched off the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. CSD was first held in West Berlin in 1979.
Berlin\u2019s mayor, Kai Wegner, called the deadly assault \u201can attack on our free and cosmopolitan society\u201d.
\u201cFollowing a peaceful and colourful CSD, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner,\u201d he said on X. \u201cBerlin is the city of freedom \u2013 and our freedom has today been attacked in the most appalling way. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends.\u201d
For the first time in its history, CSD began on Friday night this year with a pro-democracy political rally. Berlin will hold a state election in September.
The parade on Saturday ran under the motto \u201cTaking a stand is hot\u201d which organisers said was \u201cin response to increasing hostility\u201d to queer people in Germany.
More than 80 floats and 50 groups on foot joined the procession through the city centre past Potsdamer Platz and the Victory Column monument in the Tiergarten, culminating in a rally at the Brandenburg Gate.
Earlier in the day one person was arrested for resisting police orders at a far-right counterprotest.
Before last year\u2019s pride parade, Berlin LGBTQ+ organisations sounded the alarm<\/a> that attacks had become more frequent while hard-won rights were under threat.
Campaigners said a rise in hostility has accompanied the surge in support for the far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland party, now the most popular party in national opinion polls, as well as an increase in Islamist-inspired attacks.
European leaders offered solidarity. \u201cItaly firmly condemns and opposes all forms of hate and extremism,\u201d prime minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X, adding: \u201cWe stand with Germany and the German people\u201d. French president Emmanuel Macron said: \u201cFaced with hatred and violence, our response will always be unity, freedom, and resolve\u201d.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, a German centre-right politician allied with Merz, sent her deepest sympathy to the victims of the attack, describing the Christopher Street Day parade as standing for \u201cfreedom, dignity and equality \u2013 the fundamental values of the EU\u201d.
UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband said he was \u201chorrified by the appalling attack in Berlin\u201d, adding that he had spoken to his counterpart, Johann Wadephul, \u201cto convey the UK\u2019s solidarity: we stand with Germany\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Authorities issue wanted notice for Abdul Ballout, 21, after deadly van ramming described as Islamist terrorismGerman authorities have issued a wanted notice for a suspect in a deadly van ramming near Berlin\u2019s Pride festival that has been described as an Islamist attack.The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, named the chief suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout. German […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}