In Germany, the police officer injured in a knife attack in Mannheim has died

The German authorities announced, on Sunday June 2, the death, as a result of his injuries, of a police officer stabbed in the head on Friday, during an attack targeting an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, a minister denouncing on this subject the “Islamist terrorism”.

The police officer was stabbed several times in the head from behind as he tried to intervene, before another member of the police stopped the attacker by shooting him. The latter, based in the Mannheim region, is married and father of two children.

Aged 29, this police officer “was operated on several times and plunged into an artificial coma but eventually died”, announced the public prosecutor’s office and the police of this city in south-west Germany, in a joint press release. This attack in the city center on Friday, described as“attack” by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left five others injured.

The Islamist trail mentioned by the Ministry of the Interior

The attacker, a 25-year-old man born in Afghanistan and living in the country since 2014, was shot and injured during the intervention of the police and has not yet been able to be questioned. According to investigators, it is still too early to determine with certainty his motivations. But the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, raised the possibility of an Islamist trail on Friday.

For his part, the Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, was even more direct on Sunday. “The death of the young policeman touches me a lot and what is happening in our country makes me angry”he commented in the daily Bild.

“We must defend ourselves with determination against Islamist terrorism, we will also strengthen the security services, we must put an end to misplaced tolerance”he added.

Images of the attack were posted on social networks. We see the attacker, armed with a dagger, first attack several members of the Pax Europa citizens’ movement, which intends to denounce political Islam in Germany and was preparing to organize a public meeting.

Among those injured was one of its most prominent figures, Michael Stürzenberger, known for years as an anti-Islam activist in Germany and close to the far right.