BERLIN

A 2-year-old girl and her 37-year-old mother have died from injuries sustained in a car-ramming attack, German authorities announced Saturday.

The attack occurred Thursday when a 24-year-old Afghan national drove his vehicle into a crowd in Munich's city center, leaving at least 37 others injured.

The suspect remains in custody as federal prosecutors have taken over the investigation into what they believe was a religious extremism-motivated attack.

Senior Public Prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann told a press conference on Friday that the suspect was working for a security firm and had no criminal record, correcting previous reports that claimed he was involved in drug offenses and petty crimes.

“The criminal offense of terrorism does not exist,” Tilmann also said. “We see no connection at all between him and a terrorist organization at the moment,” she added.

However, the prosecutor said initial questioning of the suspect, along with an examination of his mobile phone, suggested that he had deliberately driven into the crowd, potentially driven by religious extremist beliefs.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the attack site on Saturday, expressed profound grief over the deaths. He said the perpetrator would face deportation after serving his sentence.

“Anyone who commits such an act can no longer rely on anything,” the Social Democratic leader said, describing it as an “unforgivable act.”

Scholz's coalition government faces growing pressure ahead of the parliamentary elections on Feb. 23, following several violent incidents in recent months. The perpetrators were mainly rejected asylum seekers or religious extremists whose deportations were prevented by legal constraints or security concerns in their home countries.

Right-wing parties have made mass migration, failed deportations, and recent violent incidents their top election campaign issue, which has led to a climate of fear and xenophobia, resulting in increased hate crimes against legal immigrants and Germans with migrant backgrounds.