Synagogue attacker believed to be German with extreme-right views

The attacker who targeted a synagogue in the German city of Halle is believed to be a 27-year-old German man with an extreme-right background, security sources tell dpa.

The attacker placed explosive devices in front of the synagogue and tried to enter it. A woman was shot dead outside the building and a man was later killed at a nearby kebab shop.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said it could be assumed that the events were "an anti-Semitic attack."

Seehofer said it seemed likely the attack was motivated by right-wing extremism. "According to the Federal Attorney General, there is sufficient evidence for a possible right-wing extremist background," he said in Berlin.