9 killed in suspected far-right attack in Germany

HANAU, GERMANY » A 43-year-old German man shot and killed nine people at several locations in a Frankfurt suburb overnight in attacks that appear to have been motivated by far-right beliefs, officials said Thursday.

The gunman first attacked a hookah bar in central Hanau at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, killing several people, before heading about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) west and opening fire again, claiming more victims.

Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke flavored tobacco from Middle Eastern water pipes, and some of the victims appeared to be Turkish.

Witnesses and surveillance videos of the suspect’s getaway car led authorities quickly to his home, near the scene of the second attack, wherehe was found dead near the bodyof his 72-year-old mother, said Peter Beuth, the interior minister for the state of Hesse.

Both the suspect and his mother had gunshot wounds, and the weapon was found on the suspect, Beuth said.

A website believed to be the suspect’s is being evaluated, Beuth said.

“Initial analysis of the web page of the suspect indicate a xenophobic motivation,” he said.It does not appear, however, that the suspect was known either to police or Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, he added.

He said federal prosecutors have taken over the investigation of the crime and are treating it as an act of domestic terrorism.

“This is an attack on our free and peaceful society,” he said.