A Syrian teenager arrested after an attack at a Holocaust memorial in Berlin that left a Spaniard seriously injured with a knife was "planning to kill Jews," police and prosecutors said today.
The 19-year-old was arrested on Friday after the attack, carrying a copy of the Quran and a prayer rug in his bloody hands, and initial investigations suggested "connections to the conflict in the Middle East", the statement added.
"According to what we know so far, especially based on the statements the defendant gave to the police, he had been planning the killing of Jews for several weeks," Berlin police said.
Police spokesman Florian Nath told an earlier news conference that the attack happened at 18 p.m. on Friday. He said that nearly three hours later, the suspect approached officers who had surrounded the memorial.
"He had blood on his hands and that made him very suspicious," Nat said. Police arrested the man and seized the assault weapon.
The attack took place at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2.700 gray concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, which pays tribute to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany.
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