Suspect in Berlin Highway Attack Moved to Psychiatric Jail

BERLIN, KOMPAS.com - On Wednesday, the 30-year-old suspect accused of a highway attack in Berlin has been moved to a psychiatric jail, stated German authorities.

The Iraq-born man deliberately rammed his car into other vehicles along a major Berlin highway causing injuries for six people.

Investigators are still looking into the suspect’s motives for the motorway attack that happened late Tuesday.

Read also: Suspect of Car Crashes in Berlin Cited Islamist Motivation Behind Attack

Although officials said that the man cited Islamist motivation for the highway attack in Berlin, the suspect also suffered from psychological problems.

The suspect driving a black Opel Astra allegedly struck three motorcycles at different locations on the Bundesautobahn 100, Berlin prosecutors and police said in a joint statement.

He then stopped on the highway and put an old ammunition box on the roof of his car, claiming it had explosives inside, the statement said.

“According to the current state of our investigation, we assume this was an Islamist-motivated attack,” Berlin's senator for the interior, Andreas Geisel, said.

“A religiously motivated background cannot be excluded.”

Three people were severely injured during the attack late Tuesday, including a motorcyclist left with life-threatening head and back injuries, prosecutor Martin Steltner said.

The collisions happened shortly before 7pm local time and led to a complete closure of one of the German capital’s main traffic arteries.

After the driver was detained, officers led hundreds of people stuck on the shut-down highway away from their cars.

Police used a strong jet of water to open the box he had put on the car’s roof, but found only tools inside.

Investigators did not reveal the man's identity, as is customary in Germany, but local media identified the suspect as Sarmad D.

He is under investigation for three cases of attempted murder.