ISRAEL has branded a shooting in Munich a “terror attack” after a gunman targeted cops near the Israeli consulate and a Nazi-era museum.
The shooter – shot dead by police at the scene – was an 18-year-old who travelled from Austria to Germany before the attack, local media reports.
APA police officer blocks a street during after the attack in Munich[/caption]
AFPRows of police vans and officers in Munich[/caption]
APArmed cops patrol near the scene on Thursday[/caption]
GettyA view of the apartments where members of the Israeli Olympic team were held hostage during the 1972 massacre[/caption]
Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X today: “I spoke now with President of Germany, my dear friend Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“Together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror at the terror attack this morning near the Israeli consulate in Munich.”
The suspect behind this morning’s attack died at the scene after exchanging fire with police.
It took place on the 52nd anniversary of the Munich Olympic attacks – when Palestinian gunmen killed 11 Israeli athletes in 1972.
Herzog said that on the day of remembrance for the Olympics massacre, “a hate-fuelled terrorist came and once again sought to murder innocent people”.
The suspect had recently travelled to Germany and lived in Austria’s Salzburg area near the border with Bavaria, the Standard newspaper and Spiegel news outlet reported.
Officers spotted someone carrying a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area in the city centre at around 9am.
Local residents told German outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung that they heard gunshots and police sirens as dozens of cops rushed to the scene.
One said shouts of “run, run” could be heard as the chaos unfolded.
Benedikt Franke, deputy chairman and CEO of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) told BILD that his office – next to the museum – was cordoned off.
He said “at least a dozen shots could be heard”.
A police spokesperson in the Bavarian state capital said the man had a “long-barrelled gun” that proved to be an old rifle.
The gunman’s motivation is not immediately clear, but Herrmann said police would try to clarify whether it had any link to the anniversary.
“Due to the intervention of the police, the perpetrator was stopped,” state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told press.
The Israeli foreign ministry said the consulate was closed on Thursday for a commemoration of that massacre and no one from the consulate staff was injured in the incident.
The museum and research institute, which focuses on the history of Germany’s 1933-45 Nazi regime, is located near the Israeli consulate in Munich’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.
AFPThe six Israeli Olympic team members who were killed in a terrorist attack in 1972[/caption]
Getty – ContributorGERMANY – JUNE 01: Palestinians held members of the Israeli delegation in hostage during the Munich Olympic Games. They claimed the release of 200 Palestinian resistants imprisoned in Israel. The attack will end up in a bloody way : eleven Israeli killed, four fedayee shot down, three other on the run and two Germans killed. […][/caption]
AFPCops secure the scene around Koenigsplatz square after the shooting this morning[/caption]