BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A vehicle ramming and stabbing incident in central Berlin on Saturday evening is suspected to be an "Islamist terrorist attack," German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Sunday at a press conference.

A van plowed into a crowd near Berlin's Tiergarten park on Saturday evening, before the suspect attacked passersby with a weapon believed to be a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured, some of them severely.

The incident occurred near the site of the city's Christopher Street Day (CSD) pride parade.

The suspect, born in 2005, is a German citizen of Lebanese descent, the minister said, adding that the suspect had a record of multiple offenses and radicalization, and had previously been sentenced by a German court to one year and 10 months in prison, which was suspended on probation.

Following the attack, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the incident on social media platform X, calling it an "attack on our society."

As of Sunday afternoon, the suspect remains at large. ■