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State of Emergency in Germany after 11 Killed in Shooting Rampage | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Police officers are pictured at the entrance of an appartment building following a shooting rampage at Olympia shopping mall in Munich. REUTERS/Michael Dalder


Munich-Germany has announced a state of emergency after gunmen attacked a mall in the city of Munich on Friday night and shot randomly at people who began running for cover in what police described as a terrorist attack.

Police said at least 11 people were killed and that the attackers are still on the loose.

Security forces asked residents to clear the streets while they began to implement the state of emergency in Germany’s third largest city.

The shooting is also the third large attack targeting a city in West Europe in the past eight days. ISIS has lately claimed responsibility for previous attacks that took place in France and Germany.

A Munich police spokeswoman said six people were killed and several others were injured in Friday’s attack. But no suspect has been arrested.

Police said on their Facebook and Twitter accounts that there were three gunmen.

The mall is next to the Munich Olympic stadium, where the Palestinian militant group Black September took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and eventually killed them during the 1972 Olympic Games.

The Saudi Embassy to Germany urged Saudis on Friday to avoid areas of gathering and remain home.

The attack took place a week after a 17-year-old asylum-seeker assaulted passengers on a German train with an ax. Bavarian police shot the teenager dead after he wounded four people from Hong Kong on the train and injured a local resident while fleeing.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the train assault.

Friday’s attack also comes after the bloody assault in the French city of Nice during Bastille Day celebrations when a Tunisian-French truck driver ploughed into crowds, leaving 84 dead. ISIS claimed responsibility for it.

The attack also occurred on the fifth anniversary of the shooting and bombing rampage by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway.