He is one of 12 people to be killed in the attack on Monday evening. “Even somebody who doesn’t know how to drive it can maneuver a truck into that Christmas market”.
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A man has been arrested following the attack but he has denied involvement.
The attack fuelled immediate demands for a change to Dr Merkel’s immigration policies, under which more than a million people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere have arrived in Germany this year and last. It also warned USA citizens on the continent to be on the alert for “self-radicalized” extremists, who it said could strike without warning.
“They’re really back to square one in terms of this investigation”, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said.
The Toronto Christmas Market has stepped up its security in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.
The suspect of the Berlin attack is no stranger to police.
The information has not been confirmed by German police, which suggested the truck was stolen from a construction site in Berlin.
Six of those killed have been identified as Germans, and the man found shot and killed in the truck’s passenger seat was Polish.
Residents of Berlin were urged to remain “particularly vigilant” and to report “suspicious movement” to a special hotline.
Germany’s chancellor called the Berlin Christmas market carnage a “terrorist act” likely committed by an asylum seeker who drove a large lorry at high speed into crowds of people, killing at least 12 and wounding dozens of others. He was “known to authorities”, but not suspected of any ties to terror, the interior minister said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is vowing to punish whoever’s responsible.
Federal prosecutors said on Tuesday they were able to follow the truck’s driver from the scene but then lost track of him. They spoke with police officers at the market and left flowers to honor the victims. Later, Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck also attended a memorial service at the church nearby.
A jihadist linked news agency said tonight that a “solider” from the so-called Islamic State had carried out the attack “in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries”.
The State Department issued a travel alert calling for Americans to “exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets” in Europe during the holiday season.
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IS and other terror groups have called on followers to use trucks in particular to attack crowds.
