The hunt for a young Tunisian man suspected of involvement in the attack, which saw a truck loaded with tons of steel careen through the packed market, killing a dozen people, continued Thursday morning.
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“I am confident that we will master this crucial test we find ourselves in, because we have got professional personnel, who with all their means, will contribute to the successful outcome of the investigation; but also (I am confident) because we know, that the values of democracy and the rule of law are on our side”, Merkel told reporters at the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations.
An identity document belonging to Amri was also found in the truck.
German authorities yesterday issued a wanted notice for Anis Amri, describing him as potentially violent and armed.
On Thursday, his brothers Walid and Abdelkader were still reeling at the news.
An unnamed U.S. official told The New York Times that Amri had been on a USA no-fly list, had in the past allegedly researched online how to build a bomb and had had contact with IS via messaging service Telegram.
Amri’s siblings have denounced the attack.
Workers place concrete barriers outside the market at Breitscheid Square in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, after the Monday attack.
Theresa May today urged Londoners to show “we will not be cowed by terrorists” by going out and enjoying themselves to the full over Christmas and the New Year.
His brother Walid added: “He lived like all young people – he drank, he didn’t go to prayers or anything”.
According to Walid, Amri had indeed left Italy in 2015 and headed to Germany, joining a tide of migrants, via Switzerland.
Matthew Hill, retail and hospitality director at business group London First, said: “We each have a role to play in staying vigilant and doing all we can to keep visitors and workers safe. We were in touch through Facebook and he was always smiling and cheerful”.
Officials said the 24-year-old had come to their attention in March after a tip-off that he might be planning a robbery to raise money for weapons to use in an attack. “There was no sign of radicalization”. But I am sure that he did not do it.
But the authorities believed the information was not sufficient to detain him. The Washington Post reportsthat Tunisian finally issued his passport Wednesday – nearly two days after the attack he’s suspected of carrying out.
“Look at my father with his cart, working at that age”, Abdelkader told AFP.
Police in the western German city of Dortmund arrested four people who had been in contact with Amri, media reports said, but a spokesman for the chief federal prosecutor denied that and said he would give no further details on the operation to avoid jeopardizing it.
He said his brother “deserves every condemnation” if he committed the attack on a bustling Christmas market, which left 12 people dead and 48 injured Monday.
“Because many times a cursed son has been responsible for carrying out a major attack”.
Even if 23-year-old Anis Amri was at the wheel of the deadly truck, he is likely to have made good his escape by now across Europe’s open borders, possibly planting false leads behind him.
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German media outlets, citing unnamed sources, report that Amri became a suspect in the Christmas market attack after his temporary residency papers were found under the seat of the cab in the tractor-trailer.
