On Saturday night, Abdul Ballout crashed his car into crowds that were celebrating Berlin’s annual LGBT Pride festival, killing one attendee. Using a machete, he then wounded 29 others, three of whom are reportedly in serious condition. Special forces caught up with him, and he was shot dead after he lunged at them with a “bladed weapon.”

Earlier, the German interior minister had described Ballout, 21, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, as “having previously drawn attention to himself ‌through a high ⁠volume of criminal offences, ⁠radicalization and affiliation with the Islamist scene.” He has since described Ballout’s action as an Islamist terror attack.

In The Spectator, Elizabeth Dampier writes that Ballout had tried to join ISIS in 2025:

On his return he was arrested and imprisoned in a youth detention centre before being released in May 2026 and told to take part in a deradicalisation programme. He had gone to two sessions, with the third due to take........

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