12 dead, many injured as truck plows into Christmas market in Berlin in likely terrorist attack: Update

RT
Mon, 19 Dec 2016 20:09 UTC

© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

A truck is seen near the Christmas market in Berlin, Germany December 19, 2016.

A truck has ploughed into a Christmas market in western Berlin killing nine and injuring several people, according to police.

The incident happened on one of Berlin's largest Christmas markets, located in the western Charlottenburg district. It is also close Berlin's key shopping mile Kurfuerstendamm and a famous Gedaechtniskirche (Memorial church) tourist site.

"We can confirm nine fatalities & many injured. A lot of our colleagues are at #Breitscheidplatz to investigate the background," a message on the official police Twitter account said.

A police spokesperson told German media that they are treating the truck incident in Berlin as a terrorist attack.

"It looked like [it was done] on purpose," a police officer who witnessed the incident told Berliner Zeitung.

According to a spokesperson from Berlin Fire Department, "around 50" were injured.

Police evacuated the Christmas market and sealed it off. Law enforcement also set up a special area for the relatives of those injured, local media reported.

Comment: Updates: Videos from the scene available on RT here.

No doubt Berlin truck incident was terrorist attack - German Interior Ministry:

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there is "no doubt" that the truck incident at a Christmas market in Berlin was a terrorist attack.

"At this point, we have no doubt that this horrific crime was a terrorist attack," de Maiziere told a news conference on Tuesday. He added that there is no evidence so far to indicate the suspect is linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) or any other terrorist group.

Pakistani refugee named as Berlin attack suspect by minister, police not sure they agree:

The man, suspected of ramming a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, is a Pakistani refugee aged 23, the German Interior Minister confirmed. Meanwhile, police say they aren't sure if that man is the perpetrator.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has confirmed that Naved B., who was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the Berlin truck attack, is from Pakistan and had applied for asylum earlier this year. He arrived in Germany last December and arrived in Berlin in February. De Maiziere also said the suspect denies the charges.

A Polish haulier, who also was a cousin of the victim and owner of the truck, said he lost contact with the driver on Monday at 4pm local time, according to the newspaper. It is still unclear how the Pakistani suspect managed to get into the truck.

Ariel Zurawski, the haulier who owned the truck, told Polish television he noticed that the vehicle was maneuvering in a strange way before the attack. "Someone was making forward and backward movements as if he was learning how to drive," said Zurawski. He added that "someone was in the cabin" by the time he lost contact with the original driver.

Berlin police detained 'wrong man,' truck attacker still at large, armed:

The Pakistani suspect arrested following the truck attack in the German capital reportedly had no involvement in the crime. The actual perpetrator is armed and still at large, Die Welt reports, citing high-ranking security sources.

"We have the wrong man," Die Welt cited a Berlin police official as saying. "And thus a new situation. The actual perpetrator is still at large and armed, and can inflict more damage."

The source said that all police and special forces units in Berlin have been informed and put on high alert.

Speaking at a press conference, Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt said investigators are unsure if the Pakistani man arrested shortly after the truck attack was actually the driver who rammed the vehicle into a crowd at the Christmas market.

"As far as I know it is in fact uncertain whether that really was the driver," he said.

Despite the heightened security alert, the preparations for New Year's Eve celebrations will continue as planned, Kandt added.

Entrances to all Christmas markets will be guarded by police officers armed with submachine guns, and security barriers will be erected.

Update (Dec. 20): Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the driver responded to IS's call for attacks. (In other words, he likely had no actual connection to IS and was either a lone wolf, or manipulated by a third party not formally connected with IS.) The Polish man found in the truck's cabin has been identified as Lukasz Urban, 37, the truck's original driver. He was stabbed and shot to death during the hijacking of his truck.

Update (Dec. 21): German police are now looking for a young Tunisian man whose identity documents were found in the cabin of the truck used in the attack on the Christmas market in Berlin, which killed 12 people and injured 48 others. The suspect, identified as a Tunisian national named Anis A., is also believed to have several IDs, according to various media reports.

Der Spiegel reports that his identity document has been found by investigators under the driver's seat in the truck cabin. The suspect was born in Tataouine, Tunisia in 1992, according to the report. Bild, however, quoted police sources which suggest that Anis A. had several passports in different names with ages between 21 and 23. All of the passports have surnames starting with the letter A, according to Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz. One of his aliases could be Ahmed A., the newspaper reports. The man's German residence permit was reportedly issued in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. Meanwhile, Suddeutsche Zeitung reports that Anis A. arrived to Germany as a refugee and filed an asylum request. He was later granted a resident permit.

Police and secret services are now stepping up "immense security measures" in North-Rhine Westphalia, DPA news agency said. According to German media, Anis A. was in contact with Salafist preachers from the cities of Hildesheim and Duisburg. Earlier, German special forces had interrogated radical preachers who were suspected of recruiting for Islamic State.

Berlin police have reportedly received more tip-offs after the attack and are looking for a suspect, according to Spiegel. Earlier, investigators released a 23-year-old Pakistani refugee detained on suspicion of carrying out the attack, admitting that the wrong man was taken to custody. Police say the actual attacker may be armed and is still on the run.

Update (Dec. 22): Dashcam footage of the truck has been released:

Update (Dec. 24): Two brothers arrested on December 23 on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Germany have been released for lack of evidence.

Police in the city of Essen said on December 24 that the two men, aged 28 and 31 and originally from Kosovo, were released because the allegations could not be substantiated "despite careful investigation."

Police originally made the arrests on the basis of a tip from intelligence services saying the brothers were plotting a terrorist attack against a mall in the nearby city of Oberhausen.