The suspect who killed a man with a knife in Hamburg supermarket was a known Islamist, German officials said on Saturday, adding that his motives remained unclear as he also suffered from psychological problems.
Identified as a 26-year-old man of Palestinian origin, he had arrived in Germany in 2015, but was due to be deported as his application for asylum was rejected.
The assault risks reopening a bitter debate over refugees two months before general elections, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her decision to open Germany’s borders in 2015, letting more than a million asylum seekers in.