German authorities said 21-year-old Abdul Ballut died after allegedly attacking tactical officers with a blade during a manhunt following the Berlin Pride Parade ramming that killed one person and injured 29 others.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A 21-year-old man suspected of carrying out a deadly vehicle attack against crowds attending Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride Parade was shot and killed by police Sunday after officers located him hiding in a garden shed, according to German authorities and media reports.
Abdul Ballut, described as an alleged ISIS-inspired Islamist extremist, died during an operation conducted by Special Task Force officers in Berlin’s Spandau district, according to the German newspaper Bild.
Police had launched an extensive manhunt after a van was driven into Pride Parade revelers Saturday, killing one person and injuring 29 others.
Authorities located Ballut inside a garden structure the following day. Bild reported that he confronted the tactical officers with a blade, prompting them to open fire. He was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. local time.
“Despite immediate resuscitation measures initiated by the Berlin Fire Department, he died at the scene,” a police spokesman confirmed in a statement on X.
Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger, a member of the Social Democratic Party, praised the speed of the police response.
“I am grateful to the security authorities for finding the attacker so quickly. That is a great achievement,” Spranger said.
Information released after the attack indicated that Ballut had previously drawn the attention of authorities because of alleged attempts to join the Islamic State terrorist organization.
The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office said Ballut had repeatedly attempted to join ISIS while abroad, including during time spent in Lebanon, Die Welt reported. Authorities said he had planned to travel from Lebanon to Syria to join the organization.
Ballut was born in Germany in 2005. His mother had immigrated to the country from Lebanon in 2002.
During his time in Lebanon, Ballut received a three-month prison sentence for allegedly “inciting religious and sectarian conflicts.” After completing that sentence, he returned to Germany through Berlin Brandenburg Airport.
German authorities subsequently detained him in a juvenile facility under a sentence of one year and 10 months. He was released in May under an order requiring him to participate in deradicalization counseling.
Ballut’s release shortly before the attack has intensified political criticism of Germany’s handling of individuals with known Islamist associations or previous efforts to join terrorist organizations.
Before police announced Ballut’s death, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the country Sunday and described the vehicle ramming as an Islamist terrorist attack.
“Our thoughts are with the victims of last night’s terrorist Islamist attack, with their families and friends, and I especially wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Merz said during remarks to reporters.
“These criminals, these extremists, have no place in the heart of our society, and we will not allow this poison of terrorism and this poison against our freedom to spread further in our society, regardless of all partisan differences,” he said.
Merz pledged that Germany would protect its democratic institutions and social freedoms in response to the attack.
“We will defend the freedom of our society. Everyone can count on that. We are more numerous, we are stronger, and we stand together in our country. That is the most important thing in such a difficult hour… We will defend the freedom, the openness, the liberalism of our lives and our society with everything we can, and we will do it together.”
The attack and Ballut’s documented history prompted renewed criticism from opposition figures who argued that the government had failed to take sufficiently forceful action against Islamist extremism.
Wolfgang Kubicki, chairman of the center-right Free Democratic Party, said Germany repeatedly debates such attacks without implementing the changes needed to address the threat.
“If, as a society, we repeatedly engage in the same discussions after such horrific acts without drawing the necessary conclusions, it demonstrates an almost unbearable helplessness on the part of our state,” Kubicki told Die Welt.
“One hundred per cent security is impossible – but there is the possibility of treating those who have declared themselves our enemies as such,” he said.
Kubicki argued that Islamist extremism represents both an immediate threat to human life and a broader challenge to Germany’s constitutional system.
He described Islamism as “currently the greatest danger to our free and democratic order and must finally be named and treated as such.”
The investigation into the Pride Parade attack remained ongoing following Ballut’s death, with authorities examining his movements, possible assistance from others and the circumstances surrounding his release from juvenile detention several months before the ramming.
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