Police shoot dead Berlin Pride van and knife rampage suspect, officials say

A man suspected of a driving a van into a crowd near Berlin's Pride festival then going on a knife rampage in an Islamist terror attack has been shot dead by police, German officials have said.

Police confirmed on Sunday evening that the chief suspect had been shot dead, reportedly during an operation at an allotment garden complex in the city's Spandau district.

Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt named the suspect as Abdul Ballout, 21, a German citizen of Lebanese heritage. We are dealing here with a suspected perpetrator, who had previously drawn attention to himself through a high volume of criminal offences, radicalisation and affiliation with the Islamist scene, he told a press conference near the site of the attack.

Before last year's parade, Berlin LGBTQ+ organisations sounded the alarm that attacks had become more frequent while hard-won rights were under threat. Campaigners said a rise in hostility had accompanied the surge in support for the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), now the most popular party in national opinion polls, as well as an increase in Islamist-inspired attacks.