A senior diplomat said there is no connection whatsoever between the Munich shooting rampage, reportedly carried out by a German teen of Iranian descent, and the community of Iranian expatriates in Germany.
"The German police sees no link between the attacker and the refined Iranian community," Consul General in Munich Abdollah Nekounam said on Saturday, ISNA reported. He said the Germans will continue to look upon the Iranian society in a positive and favorable light.
Nekounam noted that he had held detailed talks with Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrae and one of his deputies on Saturday, a day after the deadly shooting at a major shopping center in the southern German city of Munich.
The Iranian diplomat said they mainly discussed the police account of the incident from its beginning to the end and personal information regarding the attacker and his possible motives. On Friday, the 18-year-old boy, who is said to be a German-Iranian with no criminal record, went on a shooting spree at the Munich Olympia Shopping Center, killing nine people. Twenty-seven others were also injured in the shooting.
The attacker was later found dead of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. German police said on Saturday the teenager was a deranged lone gunman obsessed with mass killings who drew no inspiration from hardline militant groups.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, on Saturday condemned the Munich shooting spree and urged the international community to make the fight against violence its top priority.
