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Germany shooting treated as terrorism

German police have said that a gunman has killed nine people in two shootings at shisha bars and one at his home in the German town of Hanau on 19 February.

Federal prosecutors are treating the attack as terrorism, with officials saying there is evidence the gunman, who was found dead at his home along with the body of his mother, was a far-right extremist. Hesse Interior Minister Peter Beuth said the first indications from the case pointing to an anti-foreigner motive.

The Bild tabloid reports he was a German citizen with a firearms licence, and that ammunition and gun magazines were found in his car. According to Bild, he expressed far-right views in a letter of confession and a video but this has not been confirmed officially.

Both places targeted in the attack, the shisha bars and his home town of Hanau, are reported to have been predominantly Kurdish communities. In the Midnight shisha bar in the city centre of Hanau it was revealed that at least three people were killed, whilst the second attack at the Arena Bar & Cafe in the Kesselstadt neighbourhood saw at least five more killed.

Following the attacks, a large police hunt was launched for the perpetrator involving dozens of armed officers and a helicopter hovering above the commuter town 25km east of Frankfurt.

Hanau, the capital of Hesse state, is a city of 100,000 residents about 25km (15 miles) east of Frankfurt.

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