Suspect in Modena car attack has no links to terrorist groups, Italian minister says

A man who drove a car into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring eight people, four of them seriously, does not appear to have any links to any terrorist group, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedozzi said in an interview published on Monday, Reuters reports.

Salim El Kudri, a 31-year-old Italian of Moroccan descent, tried to escape and stabbed one of three people who tried to stop him, before being arrested by police.

"At this stage there are no signs of organised Islamist radicalisation and he does not appear to be linked to fundamentalist propaganda networks," Piantedozzi told the daily Il Giornale.

He added that searches of El-Khudri's phone "have so far not revealed elements that fit the typical profile of a terrorist planning violent acts."

Attacks in which vehicles are driven into crowds have become more common around the world, but this was the first such case in Italy.

Piantedozi said that El Kudry, who was born and raised in Italy, had been diagnosed with “schizoid personality disorder” and had “expressed resentment and dissatisfaction with his job and social position.”

Italy's far-right League, part of Giorgio Meloni's ruling coalition, has stepped up anti-immigrant rhetoric since Saturday's incident.