The man described as Abdul K., who drove a van into a crowd of shirt-lifters and onlookers in the German capital, is still on the run.

A van ploughed into a crowd during a homosexual pageant in Berlin on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring 16 others, some critically, the fire department said.

The incident took place on Christopher Street Day, the German capital’s annual pride event, on Lennestrasse near the Tiergarten park in central Berlin.

Islamist still at large

Police spokesman Florian Nath said the suspect has been identified and remains at large. According to the information available so far, he is a man known to the police and believed to be associated with the Islamist extremist milieu.’

Looking for Abdul

Police later released a photograph of the suspect, identifying him as 21-year-old Abdul K., who was wearing a black hoodie and white pants.

Police said the driver fled the scene after the vehicle hit a tree and that helicopters were deployed in the search.

According to the Berliner Morgenpost, witnesses said the suspect was driving a white minivan, possibly a Citroen. Police later confirmed that the vehicle was a passenger van.

Organisers cancelled the parade, which was set to resume on Sunday.

Many stabbed

Police spokesman Florian Nath said investigators were examining whether the suspect attacked bystanders after leaving the vehicle, following witness reports that people were lying on the ground with stab wounds.

Tears for Queers

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been briefed on the incident and is in close contact with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a government spokesperson said. ’His thoughts are with the victims,’ the spokesperson added.

‘This is an attack on our free and open society,’ Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner wrote on X. ‘After a peaceful and colorful pride parade, a gathering celebrating a tolerant and open Berlin was attacked most brutally.’

Germany has seen several vehicle attacks in recent years. The deadliest incident took place in 2016, when an Islamist and failed asylum seeker drove a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring more than 50. Let readers know what you think

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