Gozde Bayar, Ayhan Simsek
20 February 2020•Update: 20 February 2020
BERLIN
Five of the nine victims of Wednesday’s far-right terror attack in Germany were Turkish nationals, Turkish officials have confirmed on Thursday.
Turkey’s Ambassador to Berlin Ali Kemal Aydin told reporters that five Turkish nationals were among those killed in the mass shooting in the western town of Hanau, near Frankfurt.
A German far-right extremist, identified by security forces as Tobias R., killed at least nine people on Wednesday night.
The perpetrator, 43, targeted migrants at two cafes, German daily Bild reported.
He and one other person were found dead in an apartment in Hanau following a raid by a German special operations team.
Initial police findings showed that the perpetrator was acting with “xenophobic motives,” Hesse's Interior Minister Peter Beuth told reporters on Thursday.
"The Federal Public Prosecutor has taken over the investigation. It is treating this as a suspected incident of a terrorist attack," he said.
Hanau is located around 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt and has a population of nearly 100,000.
*Writing by Gozde Bayar
