25 Jul 2016

German bar blast likely killed sole attacker - police

4:45 pm on 25 July 2016

The person who died in an explosion at a bar in southern Germany was likely the only attacker, police say.

The explosion at Eugene's Wine Bar in the city of Ansbach, near Nuremberg, injured 12 other people.

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Photo: AFP

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the man had tried to commit suicide twice before.

It was unclear if he had planned to commit suicide or kill others at the same time.

The minister said the man had apparently been denied entry to the Ansbach Open music festival shortly before the explosion.

More than 2000 people were evacuated from the festival after the explosion. The centre of Ansbach has been sealed off and police helicopters were circling overhead.

The blast happened where a popular music festival was taking place.

Initial reports suggested it was a gas explosion but the authorities now say it was a deliberate act.

Few clear details are known of the circumstances but one unconfirmed report said a man carrying a backpack was turned away from the festival then triggered the explosion nearby.

Three of the injured people were in a serious condition, police said.

The city's mayor was quoted as saying it was an "explosive device", contradicting earlier reports it was a gas blast.

"We assume it was a deliberate explosion," a Bavarian Interior Ministry spokesperson said.

Earlier on Sunday, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a pregnant woman in a machete attack in Reutlingen, near Stuttgart.

It also followed a shooting rampage in Munich on Friday which left nine dead, and an axe and knife attack on a train a week ago which injured several people.

The train attacker was later shot dead by police.

Ansbach is home to a United States Army base and the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. A spokesman at the base said the base had no information about the explosion.

- BBC / Reuters

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