At least 12 people have been killed and several injured after a truck drove into a Christmas market in western Berlin in a suspected terrorist attack.
23 December 2016
Meanwhile, Milan police say they had received no information warning them that Amri could be in the city, according to Reuters. “We had no intelligence that he could be in Milan,” Police Chief Antonio De Iesu said at a news conference. “They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they would have been much more cautious.”
Peter Frank, Germany’s federal prosecutor, told reporters later on Friday that the investigation is far from over. Investigators will focus on uncovering Amri’s contacts to determine if he had accomplices or was a member of a terrorist network. He added that it is also crucial to know how Amri had got to Italy despite suggestions that his injuries would have prevented him from covering long distances.
A suspected perpetrator behind the Berlin Christmas market attack was killed during a shootout in Milan, Italy, Reuters reports, citing a security source.
The Italian interior minister will hold a news conference in Rome at 09:45 GMT, Reuters said, citing the ministry.
The information that Anis Amri died in a shootout with police on Thursday night first appeared in the Italian Panorama magazine.
A man whose appearance matches the description of the suspected perpetrator behind the Berlin Christmas market attack has been spotted in the city of Aalborg in northern Denmark, local police tweeted. According to police, the man, aged between 20 and 30, was “wearing a black hat, glasses, black beard and was unshaven.”
Police have warned people to keep away from the area where he was spotted.
Thirty patients have been discharged from hospitals following the Monday night attack, Berlin's state government announced.
Twelve people are still being treated for "severe" injuries in various hospitals. An unspecified number of them are still in a critical condition. Another 14 people are also receiving medical treatment for less serious injuries.
Earlier on Thursday, Berlin's state health ministry revised the number of victims being treated in Berlin hospitals to 56, up from 48.
A French female citizen is among those who were injured in Berlin's Christmas market attack, the Paris prosecutor's office said, announcing the initiation of its own investigation.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, provided no further details about the victim or the extent of her injuries, AP reported.
22 December 2016
Anis Amri, who is suspected of carrying out the truck attack in Berlin, initially planned to travel to Syria and join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) there, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily reported, adding that he also underwent training in Germany alongside other extremists.
Investigators believe that Tunisian suspect Anis Amri was indeed behind the wheel of the truck that plowed into the Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, a spokesperson from the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office told journalists, adding that an arrest warrant has officially been issued against him.
Earlier, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said during a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel that fingerprints and other “new evidence” made it “highly probable” that Amri was the perpetrator of Monday’s attack.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the actions of police during the investigation of the Monday attack on the Christmas market, and expressed her hope that the perpetrator would be arrested in the near future. Merkel was holding a press conference together with Justice Minister Heiko Maas and Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
Merkel then stressed that Germany had made great efforts to be able to counter terrorist threats more effectively. She expressed her confidence that the German people “would overcome this challenge together” as they can now rely on more professional security services and still stay committed to the “values of democracy and rule of law.”
German authorities had been tracking the main suspect in the Berlin attack for months before calling off surveillance operations on the 24-year-old Tunisian, Anis Amri.
Amri arrived in Germany in July 2015, at the height of the refugee influx, after serving a four-year prison term in Italy, Ralf Jaeger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia said, according to AP.
Since February this year the Tunisian was able to move freely around Germany, after registering near the Dutch border. All that time, Amri had been living mostly in Berlin, Jaeger noted.
The main suspect in the attack had been added to a list of potentially violent Islamic extremists. Prosecutors in Berlin even launched an investigation into the potential threat posed by Amri on March 14 following a tip from federal security agencies.
The tip warned that the Tunisian might be planning a possible future attack and had been seeking to purchase automatic weapons. After conducting surveillance for several months, German authorities failed to find evidence to substantiate the claim, calling off surveillance on Amri in September.
"Security agencies exchanged information about this person in the joint counter-terrorism center, the last time in November," said Jaeger.
Jaeger also revealed that the suspect's asylum application had been rejected in July, but authorities failed to deport him because the 24-year old didn't have valid identity papers. In August migration authorities made an effort to help Amri secure a replacement passport.
"Tunisia at first denied that this person was its citizen, and the papers weren't issued for a long time," Jaeger said."They arrived today."
21 December 2016
Anis Amri, the main suspect in the Berlin attack was arrested in 2011 in Belpasso near the Sicilian capital of Catania, Die Welt has learned from Italian government sources. According to the report, Italian authorities have fingerprints and photographs of Amri on file.
In Catania, Amri was sentenced to four years in prison for incitement of violence, bodily injury, and theft. The Tunisian served his sentence in detention centers in Catania and Palermo, before being released in May 2015.
The 24-year-old was then moved to a deportation center in the central Italian city of Caltanissetta, from which he was released a few weeks later. The alleged terrorist is considered "violent" by the Italian authorities and was described as such by his fellow inmates.
24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, who has several aliases, has officially been named as the suspect by German authorities, who are now offering a 100,000 euro reward for information resulting in his arrest.
"Anis Amri is 178 cm tall and weighs about 75 kg, has black hair and brown eyes," said a statement from the Federal Prosecutor's Office (GBA). "Beware: He could be violent and armed!"
Wanted notice says suspect in Berlin truck attack should be considered armed and dangerous, AP reports.
German police have begun to search the refugee shelter where the Tunisian Berlin attack suspect allegedly lived, German Rheinische Post newspaper reports. The shelter is situated in the town of Emmernich, some 140km north of Cologne, near the Dutch border.
German police have searched a shopping center in the city of Dusseldorf as they look for the Berlin attack suspect. Police received a tip-off from an eyewitness who said that a person matching the description of the suspect was in the center, German Rheinische Post newspaper reports. However, the search yielded no results.
Suddeutsche Zeitung reports that Anis A. arrived to Germany as a refugee and filed an asylum request. He was later granted a resident permit.
German Police have arrested another suspect in connection with the attack on the Christmas market in Berlin after a Pakistani refugee, previously believed to have carried out the assault, was released. RBB reports that the investigation does not regard the new suspect as the perpetrator at this point. Police maintain that the actual perpetrator could have been injured, as crime scene units found DNA samples in the truck cabin.
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, German media reports.
An autopsy of the Polish lorry driver found dead in the Berlin attack suggests that he might have been alive at the time of the tragic event, Die Welt reports. The publication said that he may have attempted to avert further casualties by preventing the attacker from driving into the crowd.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said it is too early to pin the blame on Islamic State for the Berlin tragedy. Earlier, ISIS reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack that left at least 12 people dead.
"There is no direct evidence of a tie or a link to a terrorist organization, but this bears the hallmarks of previous terror attacks," Kirby noted.
Several foreigners are thought to still be missing following Monday evening's tragedy in Berlin, Die Welt reported.
One of the missing persons is a 31-year-old woman from Sulmona, Italy, the publication said, citing Italian news agency Ansa. The woman has allegedly lived in Berlin since 2013. Her cell phone was found at the site of the attack at Breitscheidplatz.
The woman's family was contacted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday night. On Thursday, the missing woman, according to her family wanted to fly to Italy for the Christmas holidays.
In addition to the Italian, a woman from Israel, who had been at the Christmas market with her husband, is also missing, the publication notes. Her husband, also an Israeli citizen, was seriously injured in the attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that they fear for the life of the woman.
20 December 2016
Following the attack in Berlin, California's congressman Adam Bennett Schiff warned the EU of the "possibility of further terrorism in the weeks and months ahead as Iraqi forces squeeze ISIS in Mosul and as the group is steadily dislodged from its strongholds in Syria."
The Czech Finance Minister, Andrej Babis, has blamed Germany’s "open door" policy and Chancellor Angela Merkel personally for the tragic event in Berlin on Monday night.
At least 12 people were killed and several injured after a truck was driven into a Christmas market in western Berlin in a suspected terrorist attack.
"Unfortunately...[open door]policy is responsible for this dreadful act. It was she [Merkel] who let migrants enter Germany and the whole of Europe in uncontrolled waves, without papers, therefore without knowing who they really are," Babis said.
"Germany is paying a high price for this policy," he added as quoted by news website parliamentnilisty.cz. "The solution is peace in Syria and the return of migrants to their homes. There is no place for them in Europe."
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences, Anadolu reports. Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in Berlin.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere reacted skeptically to IS' claims of responsibility for the Monday Berlin attack. "We just heard about the supposed claim of responsibility by this so-called Islamic State that is in fact a gang of terrorists," he told the German ARD broadcaster, adding that investigators are following “several leads” from the very beginning.
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the Berlin Christmas market truck attack, according to a news agency affiliated with the terrorist group. The perpetrator of the Berlin attack was described an IS "soldier" who responded to the organization's call to target citizens of countries that are members of the coalition fighting extremists in Syria and Iraq.
The Pakistani man, who was arrested after the Berlin truck attack, was let go because of insufficient evidence, according to a statement released by the German Federal Prosecutor's Office.
A Polish citizen found in the cabin of the truck that plowed into the crowd in Berlin on Monday was identified as Lukasz Urban, 37, from the western Polish village of Roznowo, located near the German border. Urban was the original driver of the truck, and was apparently stabbed and shot to death right in the cabin before his vehicle was hijacked and driven into the crowd, AP reports.
US President Barack Obama has offered assistance to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and has expressed his condolences over the Christmas market attack, the White House said.
The German Social Democrats have called for solidarity after the Berlin attack. “We mourn the victims [of the attack] but we are also indignant over this murderous assault,” read a statement issued by the secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, Katarina Barley, and the party head, Sigmar Gabriel. “However, our values, our freedom are stronger than hate and terror,” it adds.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his condolences over the Monday attack to the families of the victims and to all German people. He also denounced the “terrorist attack.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has visited the scene of Monday’s attack together with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. She also signed the book of condolences in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. “It would be particularly hard to bear for all of us if it was confirmed that a person committed this crime who asked for protection and asylum in Germany,” she said.
Earlier, Merkel stressed that the attack “contradicts the values of many, many Germans, who help refugees every day, as well as the values of many people, who really need our protection and make efforts to integrate into our [society].”
One or more perpetrators are still on the run, said Holger Munch, chief of the German criminal police, adding that they are armed and dangerous.
The attack on the Christmas market in Berlin allegedly had a “terrorist background,” German Prosecutor General Peter Frank said during a press conference, adding at the same time that no terrorist organization had claimed responsibility for the incident.
Frank also expressed doubt that the detained Pakistani man was the perpetrator. Investigators should rely on the “assumption that the detained man was not the actual perpetrator and did not belong to the criminal group” that carried out the Berlin market attack, he said.
Holger Munch, head of the German federal criminal police, warned that further terrorist attacks could follow the Monday incident. There is a “higher risk of further attacks” in the near future, he said during a press conference in Berlin. At the same time, he stressed that it is still unclear whether the attack was carried out by Islamists.
Berlin Mayor Michael Muller signed the book of condolences alongside other German politicians as people continued to bring flowers, candles and cards in memory of those who died in the attack.
Pope Francis called the Berlin attack a “horrifying act of violence” and said that he shares the grief of victims’ relatives and expressed his condolences, the Vatican’s press service said.
Police have raided a hangar at the disused Tempelhof airport in southern Berlin, which is partly used to provide housing for refugees.
“The temporarily-arrested suspect denies the offence. Therefore we are particularly alert. Please be also alert,” the Berlin Police tweeted.
The president of the Berlin police said it is yet not clear if the arrested man was the truck driver, Reuters reported.
"As far as I know, it is in fact uncertain whether that really was the driver," said Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt.
Berlin’s police president said that the capital will significantly beef up security in the coming days, adding that this will include erecting barriers, Reuters reported.
Berlin police have detained the “wrong man,” and the truck attacker is still armed and at large, Die Welt newspaper has reported.
“We have the wrong man, and therefore a new situation,” said a senior police chief, adding “the true perpetrator is still armed, at large, and can cause fresh damage.”
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.
The 23-year-old suspect reportedly denies the crime and “is questioning everything,” DPA news agency reported, citing security sources. He was earlier handed over to the Office of the Prosecutor General, who will now be in charge of investigation.
Terrorism has a new “high level of threat” in France, French President Francois Hollande said, as cited by AFP.
The interior minister of the western German region of Saarland, Klaus Boillon, told broadcaster SR that “We must say that we are in a state of war, although some people, who always only want to see good, do not want to see this.”
He added that security forces dealing with terrorist threats must be given “heavy weaponry,” including assault rifles and submachine guns.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a televised address the truck attack is likely to be a terrorist act committed by a man "who came to Germany to seek asylum." Merkel said the country does not want to be paralyzed by terror, promising the nation that the government will make necessary measures to ensure public safety. She is also expected to visit the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered condolences to the German leadership as well as to the families of those killed in the Berlin truck attack. “The crime committed against innocent civilians has shocked us with its cruelty and cynicism,” the Kremlin statement said.
The suspect has been transported to the city of Karlsruhe and been handed over to the office of the German Prosecutor General, Bild reported. Earlier, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the prosecutor will now head the investigation. Federal Criminal Police officers will contribute to the investigation as well.
The truck driver has reportedly been identified as a 23-year-old Pakistani national who was registered as an asylum-seeker in Germany in February. He is said to have arrived in the country via the so-called 'Balkan route' and lived in a refugee center in Berlin, according to Die Welt newspaper, citing police and security sources.
The German police counter-terrorism unit SEK have been deployed to raid a refugee center located at Tempelhof, the defunct airport in Berlin. According to Berliner Morgenpost, approximately 200 officers arrived at the scene to conduct thorough searches at the facility. Officials do not attribute the operation to the truck attack that took place on Monday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 48 others.
Berlin police are working under the assumption that the truck driver "intentionally" plowed through the crowd at the Christmas market.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of the Interior, Ralf Jäger (SPD), called the attack in Berlin a "terrorist attack", Die Welt reports.
Jäger also announced that his federal state will increase the police numbers and presence during the holiday season.
A dead man inside the truck, who Berlin police previously thought to be Polish, was not the individual who drove the lorry into the Christmas market.
The original driver of the truck, before the vehicle was allegedly stolen, was a 37-year-old male that had been transporting ThyssenKrupp steel products from Italy to Berlin.
“The company where he was supposed to unload the products in Berlin was not able to receive them and told him to return on Tuesday morning. They told him to wait in Berlin somewhere,” the company’s transport manager, Lukasz Wasik, told AFP.
“We lost contact with him around 3:00pm local time. We don't know what happened – whether he was taken hostage, killed. We know nothing. We're very worried about him. What a tragedy,” the manager added.
Berlin police say that the dead man found in the truck was from Poland. It is still unclear whether he was the original driver from the truck company. Earlier, Poland’s Foreign Ministry said that it could not confirm whether the man found inside the truck had been a Pole.
The truck driver, who was allegedly responsible for at least a dozen deaths in Berlin, was arrested thanks to the efforts of one witness who chased the perpetrator for over two kilometers following the deadly incident, a Berlin police officer, Winfrid Wenzel, told Die Welt.
"He [the assailant] probably wanted to find shelter in the darkness of the Tiergarten park," Wenzel noted, adding that the alleged driver was apprehended by a police patrol car after the witness alerted the authorities as he ran down the street towards the Tiergarten.
At least 12 people have died and 48 others were injured in the Christmas market truck incident, Berlin's police said.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘attack’ yet at the moment, although a lot speaks for it,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD.
"There is a psychological effect on the whole country in the choice of words here, and we want to be very, very cautious and operate close to the actual investigation results, not with speculation,” De Maiziere added.
Berlin police are asking the public to send any multimedia material documenting the deadly incident to a police portal for evaluation.
According to preliminary information, no Russian nationals were killed or injured in Monday's Christmas market attack in Berlin, the Russian embassy in Germany announced.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it cannot at this time confirm media reports that the victim found in the cab of the truck was a Polish national.
According to information obtained by Die Welt, the alleged truck driver that killed at least 9 people on Monday evening came from Pakistan to Germany as a refugee on 16 February 2016.
19 December 2016
Authorities reveal suspicious item found on Rankestraße near the Christmas market was simply a "sleeping bag".
US president elect Donald Trump has issued a statement denouncing the murder of “innocent civilians” enjoying the festive period in Berlin.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today’s horrifying terror attack in Berlin.
“Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepares to celebrate the Christmas holiday.
“ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth”.
Police investigating the incident suspect that the vehicle, which was registered at a Polish construction site, had been stolen. An update from emergency responders stated that 45 people were wounded in the smash.
Politicians from around the world have been tweeting their shock at the incident while also sending messages of support to the people of Germany in the wake of what is now thought to be a terror attack on the city of Berlin.
Mexico’s president Enrique Pena Nieto said his nation “stands in solidarity” with Germany, while US congressman Charlie Dent said the “savagery of terrorism has no place in our world.”
Police inspecting “suspicious item” found near Rankestraße, opposite the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church. People asked to bypass the area.
US National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price condemned “what appears to have been a terrorist attack” on the Berlin Christmas market.
“We send our thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of those killed, just as we wish a speedy recovery to all of those wounded. We also extend our heartfelt condolences to the people and Government of Germany.”
One eyewitness said that the truck missed him and his girlfriend by “a few metres” before he ran to help survivors who had been mowed down by the vehicle.
“We tried to see who was injured … then I tried to help some people lift the side of one of the stalls so that some other people could pull [victims] from underneath.”
A Facebook ‘safety check’ feature has been launched so that people can inform friends and family that they are safe in Berlin.
Live footage from the scene in Berlin:
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas has tweeted his condolences to the victims and families caught up in the suspected terrorist attack.
“Shocking news from the #Breitscheidplatz. We mourn with the families. The Attorney General is taking over the case,” Maas said.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was deeply shocked by the "terrible news" of the Christmas market attack in Berlin.
"Many people who visited the Christmas market tonight have been killed, [and] even more were injured," he said. "We still do not know with certainty what really happened tonight. Security authorities are working hard to secure the scene and find the perpetrators,” Frankfurter Allgemeine reported.
No evidence of any more danger near the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market, according to Polizei Berlin Einsatz.
Berlin police urge people to stay at home and not spread rumors regarding the incident. Meanwhile, city mayor Michael Muller claims the situation is “under control”.
Police believe that two people were in the cab of the truck that drove into the Berlin market. One person was arrested and another confirmed dead at the scene.
Interior minister to brief German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Berlin’s mayor about the Christmas market incident, according to Reuters.
Two people were in the truck as it smashed into the Christmas market, a police spokesperson told Berlin Morgenpost.
One of them was detained at the scene but later died, the official said. Another suspect was captured in the nearby area and taken to a police station.
Police also believe that the surviving suspect was the driver of the truck.
Images of the collision aftermath show the area cordoned off with emergency services and police attending the scene.
Federal police are advising people to follow the Berlin police Twitter page for “reliable information” on the incident.
The vehicle "drove sideways" onto the pavement at Breitscheidplatz, a major public square, reported Polizei Berlin.
Berlin police confirm nine dead and “many others injured” in truck incident at a Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church.