DNA links Berlin Pride attack suspect to vehicle, prosecutors say

DNA evidence found in the van used in last weekend's ramming attack on a crowd attending Berlin's Pride festival matches that of the suspected perpetrator, German federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The DNA belonged to the suspect, who is only being identified as Abdul B in line with German privacy laws, a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office said. 

No other DNA traces were found inside the vehicle, making it highly likely that Abdul B was driving it, she added. 

One woman was killed and 31 people, some of them seriously, were injured in the attack in the Tiergarten, a large park in central Berlin, on Saturday evening.

Prosecutors allege that 21-year-old Abdul B, a German citizen with Lebanese heritage, also used a machete in a stabbing attack that followed the car ramming. 

The suspect was shot dead by police a day later after officers tracked him down to the western district of Spandau following a massive manhunt. 

German officials have called the attack on one of the largest LGBT+ Pride festivals in Europe an act of Islamist terrorism.

Federal prosecutors have said that a video claiming responsibility was found on the suspect's mobile phone. The footage shows a masked person, believed to be Abdul B, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State militant group.