Investigators say they arrested wrong man over truck attack that killed 12 and injured dozens more in German capital

A hunt is under way in Germany for an armed attacker suspected of driving a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more.

Earlier hopes that the perpetrator had been caught after a heroic chase by a member of the public through a park were dashed when police said they had arrested the wrong man.

“We need to work on the assumption that an armed perpetrator is still on the loose,” Holger Münch, the head of the federal criminal police office, told a press conference. “We are on high alert and are investigating every possible angle.”

On Tuesday night, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, although there is no evidence yet for their claim. Through its Amaq news agency, the jihadi group claimed the attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State”. The phrasing matches that used to claim previous lone wolf attacks, such as the incident in Orlando in June when 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub.

Earlier, special forces stormed Berlin’s largest refugee shelter, at a hangar at the now disused Tempelhof airport in central Berlin, where the arrested man had been registered. They interviewed residents and removed a laptop and mobile phone.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, speaking before the suspect was released, condemned the attack as gruesome, saying it would be repugnant if the attacker turned out to be a person seeking asylum in Germany.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) said Germany was no longer safe. The party’s leader, Frauke Petry, accused Merkel of “importing terror to Germany over the past one and a half years”.

Hours later, the arrested suspect, a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Pakistan who had arrived in Germany a year ago, was released by police.

The death toll rose on Tuesday from nine to 12, while doctors worked to save lives and treat injuries, including many cases of internal bleeding or loss of limbs. It was confirmed that none of the dead were children, but six were identified as German ­citizens. Eighteen people were being treated in Berlin clinics for what were described as very serious injuries.

There were reports on Tuesday night that the family of missing 31-year-old Italian, Fabrizia di Lorenzo, feared she was one of the dead. She did not turn up to work and her phone and travel card were found at the crime scene. Her father, Gaetano, was reported as saying that he had given up hope of seeing her again.

The Polish-registered truck careered into the market off a main road at around 8pm local time on Monday. It is believed to have been laden with 20 tonnes of steel girders. It travelled for about 80 metres at a reported 70-80kph before crashing into wooden stalls and shoppers and coming to a halt outside the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police and fire officers inspect the damaged truck. Photograph: Michael Kappeler/EPA

The truck manufacturer Scania declined to comment on the tragedy. German media speculated that the perpetrator must have disabled or overridden the vehicle’s automated braking system to carry out the attack.

There are about 2,500 Christmas markets in Germany, including 60 in the capital, and questions are being asked about whether they are well enough protected from the threat of terrorism. Security experts have warned for years that they could be a soft target for terrorists because they are rarely cordoned off and have few or no bag checks.



In November, US authorities warned their citizens to avoid Germany’s Christmas markets, considering them to be a high risk. No such warning was issued by German authorities.

The German police, whose numbers have been bolstered in the wake of recent, smaller terrorist incidents, pledged to increase the number of stone bollards placed at markets and there were calls for better monitoring of heavy-load vehicles on German roads.

Klaus Kandt, Berlin’s police president, said there was a limit to what could be done to protect the markets, a mainstay of the German Christmas. “We can’t turn Christmas markets into fortresses,” he said. “There are so many possibilities to kill people with a truck. You will never be able to eliminate the risk.”

Investigators have removed the black truck from the site for forensic examination. People left flowers at the scene and notes, one of which read: “Keep on living, Berliners!”



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Merkel joined the mourners on Tuesday afternoon, walking slowly past the scene accompanied by ministers and bodyguards and carrying white roses. Inside the church – a symbol of reconciliation after the second world world war – she signed a book of condolence.

Lana Sefovac, a Bosnian who lives in Berlin, was at the entrance of the market drinking mulled wine with his family when the vehicle bore down upon him. “I was standing in front of the stall. My father was in front of me. My mum was behind,” he said. “I heard a very, very noisy sound and when I turned towards it, the first thing I saw was wood flying all around because he literally smashed the first wooden booth by driving very fast.

“He was driving directly toward us, directly into us. But then he made a turn because he did not want to drive into [our] booth but where people were. He wanted to run people over. “He passed 20cm from my mum. She fell. My dad fell, too. I turned and started screaming because I couldn’t see my mum.” Both parents survived.

Among the dead was the vehicle’s registered driver, Łukasz Urban, a 37-year-old Polish national who it is believed tried to fight off his assailant before being stabbed and shot.

As police tried to piece together the truck’s journey, Ariel Żurawski, the Polish company that owned the vehicle, said it had lost touch with its driver at around 4pm local time.



Investigators were quick to question whether they had arrested the right man because the inside of the driver’s cab was covered in blood but there were no traces of blood or gunshot residue on the suspect.

While many markets remained closed on Tuesday as a mark of respect, Germany’s interior minister urged people to continue to visit them. He said it was expected that carousels, rollercoasters and the other more rowdy aspects of the markets would remain closed for some days, but “it would be a nice thing to go to a market and buy a crib”.

The police said the first they knew of the existence of the rogue truck was when it had crashed and they were called to the scene. They had not received notification from the truck’s owner that he had lost track of it.

Footage from CCTV around Breitscheidplatz where the incident took place and from traffic cameras on the roads leading to the square was being analysed by investigators, but police told German media they were “searching for a needle in a haystack”.

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Police urged members of the public to be alert and not to try to approach anyone they thought was suspicious.

“The man arrested in connection with the incident on Breidscheidplatz is denying the deed. We are therefore being especially vigilant. You should be too, please,” Berlin police said on their Twitter feed.

Politicians gathered for an ecumenical service in the memorial church on Tuesday evening. The president, Joachim Gauck, said the church, which was badly bombed during the war, had suffered “another open wound” but stood witness to Berlin’s ability to overcome difficult times.

The Brandenburg Gate was lit up in the colours of the German flag. “Too many times we have had to light up the Brandenburg Gate in the various colours of various nations that have seen terrorist attacks,” said the city’s mayor, Michael Müller. “This time the Brandenburg Gate will be lit up in our own national colours.”