Merkel cancels election rally due to hostage-taking in southern Germany

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BERLIN, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel cancelled a scheduled election rally in the southern German city of Ingolstadt on Monday as an armed man took hostages in the city's town hall.

The man entered the building shortly before 9 o'clock in the morning, and held several hostages. Police cordoned off the building and contacted directly with the hostage taker.

Merkel was scheduled to visit the Bavarian city for an election rally on 17:00 o'clock, local time. The plan was cancelled due to the incident, announced her CDU and its sister party CSU in the southern German state.

The motivation of the hostage-taker remained unclear. Local Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reported, citing police source, that he was armed and three hostages were taken, including one of the city's deputy mayors.

According to another local newspaper Donaukurier, the hostage taker was 23 years old and was stalking the deputy mayor's female receptionist who had finished a relationship with him. The offender was undergoing psychiatric treatment, said the newspaper.

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