Berlin crashes probed as terror attack

An Iraqi-born man deliberately drove his car into motorcycles along a stretch of Berlin highway, leaving at least one person in life-threatening condition in what German officials said yesterday was a terror attack.

"According to the current state of our investigation we assume this was an Islamist-motivated attack,'' Berlin's senator for the interior, Andreas Geisel, said. "A religiously motivated background cannot be excluded.''

Six people were injured, three of them severely, when the 30-year-old man allegedly drove into several vehicles, intentionally hitting motorcycles, on Tuesday evening, prosecutors and police said.

The crashes at three different locations happened during rush hour on the BAB100 highway shortly before 7pm and led to a complete closure of one of the main traffic arteries of Berlin.

There were also indications that the man had mental health issues.

The suspect, who was driving a black Opel Astra, stopped on the highway after the third crash and put an old ammunition box on the roof of his car, claiming it had explosives inside.

The man reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar'' or "God is great'' as he got out of his car. He was also said to have shouted: "Nobody gets closer, or you will all die.''

Specialists opened the box with a strong jet of water but found only tools inside.