Munich car attack suspect: What we know about Afghan bodybuilder and asylum-seeker Farhad Noori
An Afghan bodybuilder with thousands of online followers has admitted deliberately driving into a crowd in Munich, prosecutors said on Friday in what authorities believe was an attack motivated by Islamic extremism.
Two people, a 37-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter died after they suffered severe injuries when a Mini Cooper was rammed into a group of trade union members on Seidlstrasse at around 10:30am.
At least 34 others were injured injured in the attack.
“He has admitted that he deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration,” prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann told a news conference. “I’m very cautious about making hasty judgements, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime,” she added.
Anti-terror police in Germany are investigating the incident, and the suspect has been named as Farhad Noori by the Munich prosecutor’s office.
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The 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested by police soon after the incident, which took place a mile away from the venue where the Munich Security Conference is being held on Friday. US vice president JD Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the city on the same day as the attack, though at this stage authorities do not believe there is a connection.
Here is everything we know about the person suspected of being behind the Munich car attack so far.
Farhad Noori, born in Kabul in 2001, first arrived in Germany from Afghanistan at the end of 2016, according to Der Spiegel.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees reportedly rejected his asylum application.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann confirmed that he had arrived in the country as an asylum-seeker adding that his application had “probably” been rejected, Die Zeit reported. But Mr Herrman added that the suspect could not be deported because of security concerns in Afghanistan, and that he was therefore allowed to continue to stay in Germany.
Noori lived in Munich and had a valid residence permit, it has now emerged.
The 24-year-old’s social media accounts – which had tens of thousands of followers but have now been taken down – displayed a keen bodybuilder who appears to dedicate much of his life to weightlifting.
Noori competed in the German amateur bodybuilding championship and in October came fifth in a competition in the ‘Men’s Physique’ category, Der Spiegel reported.
