Who is Abdul Ballout, the suspect in the Berlin attack?

Thin, about 1 metre 90 tall, with black hair, and wearing a black hooded top and white trousers. This is the police sketch released by the Berlin police of the suspect in the van attack at the Gay Pride parade, identified as Abdul Ballout. A 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese origin, the man was a supporter of Islamic State and died following a shootout with special forces who had tracked him down in a garden shed in the Spandau district of Berlin.

Born in Berlin in 2005, Abdul B. is a German citizen of Lebanese origin. According to the DPA news agency, his family lives in Berlin.

Abdul was already known to the authorities for offences such as aggravated assault and extortion, for which he had been held in a youth detention centre until last May, and for being a supporter of the Islamic State, having long been suspected of being part of an Islamist network in the German capital. The Bild newspaper also reports that the German authorities have extended their manhunt to neighbouring countries, alerting the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland and Denmark.

Last May, Abdul was released from a juvenile detention centre where he had been held. It is unclear whether he acted alone in the Pride attack, or whether he was the driver of the van used, which the police say was a privately-owned vehicle rather than a hire van.