Germany detains Syrian man accused of Yarmouk grenade attack
The suspect, identified only as Mouafak AI D, is charged with the murder of seven people in the Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.
Germany has detained a Syrian man in Berlin who allegedly fired a grenade into a crowd of civilians while fighting on behalf of the government near the capital in 2014.
The suspect, identified only as Mouafak AI D, has been charged with war crimes that led to the death of seven people, the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe said.
Three others, including a six-year-old child, were injured when German prosecutors say the suspect launched a grenade into a crowd of Palestinian refugees who were lining up to receive UN-distributed food packages in Yarmouk on the outskirts of Damascus.
Before the civil war erupted in 2011, Yarmouk was home to Syria’s largest concentration of Palestinian refugees. Between 2013 and 2015, pro-government forces imposed a siege on Yarmouk, triggering a humanitarian crisis that killed nearly 200 people by March 2014. Most reportedly died of starvation and a lack of medical care.
