Man who threatened to kill police officers in Germany “had extremist motive”

Investigators believe his motive was Islamist extremism.

The 29-year-old Albanian national arrived at the police station in the small town of Linz am Rhein, between Koblenz and Bonn, at around 2:40 a.m. Prosecutors said he repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar” – “God is great” in Arabic – and said he wanted to kill police officers.

Police officers on guard duty locked the door of the police station and the entrance to the courtyard.

The suspect tried in vain to force open the doors, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Special forces officers were called to the scene and subdued him with a stun gun.

When investigators searched the suspect’s apartment, they found a painted flag of the terrorist militia “Islamic State” on a wall.

The incident in Koblenz followed a knife attack on August 23 in the western city of Solingen, in which a suspected extremist from Syria is said to have killed three people.

A man who was killed in a shootout with police near the Israeli consulate in Munich on Thursday is also suspected of being radicalized. Authorities said the 18-year-old had fired shots at the consulate and a museum dedicated to the city's Nazi history before the fatal shooting.