Oktoberfest in Munich reopens after sweep due to bomb threat

Police said attacker was a 57-year-old who died by suicide near a lake across town.

- BY MATTHIAS SCHRADER AND STEFANIE DAZIO

The Oktoberfest fairgrounds closed for several hours Wednesday as police conducted a security sweep of the famed beer festival due to a bomb threat by a man linked to an explosion across town in northern Munich.

Police in Bavaria, the state where Munich is located, said the perpetrator was believed to be a 57-year-old German citizen who, according to preliminary findings, had died by suicide near a lake in northern Munich.

The Oktoberfest grounds were reopened after police determined that the bomb threat linked to the man “was not confirmed,” Munich police said on the X platform.

The suspect, who had been living in the town of Starnberg south of the city, had been carrying a backpack containing an explosive device, a Bavaria police statement said earlier.