Berlin car bomb ‘not a terror attack’

An explosion that destroyed a car and killed the driver in downtown Berlin during rush hour traffic was likely caused by a bomb, police said, but investigators are working on the assumption that it was not a terror-related attack.

The explosion occurred at about 8am (7am GMT) in the western district of Charlottenburg on a busy street leading into the heart of the German capital.

Photos from the scene showed the wreckage of a Berlin-registered silver VW Passat station wagon, its windows blown out and its front end smashed in, about a kilometre from the capital’s landmark Victory Column.