German police seek motive in car ramming

German authorities scrambled Tuesday to determine the motives of a man who ploughed his car into a carnival procession, injuring dozens and further unsettling a country rocked by a fatal mass shooting last week.

Investigators said the 29-year-old German driver had not been drunk at the time of ramming on Monday, but could not yet rule out that he was under the influence of drugs, national news agency DPA said.

The ramming, which injured 52 people, including 18 children, comes just days after a gunman with suspected racist motives killed nine people with migrant backgrounds in Hanau, also in western Hesse state.

The latest incident prompted fears of a repeat attack. Officials cancelled all carnival parades across the state Monday, while a children's procession was called off Tuesday in state capital Wiesbaden.

But authorities have stopped short of calling the incident an attack, saying the driver was himself injured and could not be questioned immediately after he drove into the ...