Afghan national confesses to Munich car ramming that injured 36, prosecutor says [Video]

An Afghan national has admitted to purposefully driving into a crowd in the German city of Munich and authorities have determined an Islamist motive for the crime, a prosecutor said on Friday.

At least 36 people including a toddler were hurt on Thursday when the 24-year-old man plowed into demonstrators gathered in the city centre, putting security back in focus before next week’s federal election.

“He has admitted that he deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration,” lead prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said, adding that the suspect, under investigation on 36 counts of attempted murder, had spoken German in a two-hour interrogation.

“I’m very cautious about making hasty judgments, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime,” she added.

Officers fired on his car after the attack, but the suspect was not hit. According to Tilmann, he subsequently said the words “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) and prayed …