In a move interpreted by the market as boosting the political chances of her opponents, this morning German chancellor Angela Merkel, dressed all in black for her first public comments on Monday's tragic incident, said the deadly truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market was likely an act of terrorism and pledged to punish those responsible for the attack "with the full strength of our law."

In a nationally televised statement in Berlin, Merkel said she was "horrified, shaken and deeply saddened" about a truck attack that killed at least a dozen people at a Berlin Christmas market and that people across Germany were mourning after the “horrific and unimaginable” deaths and injuries sustained in the capital on Monday evening. She said she planned to tour the scene of the attack later on Tuesday.



“This is a very difficult day,” Merkel, whose open-door refugee policy allowed over 1 million migrants to enter German in the past two years some of whom she has admitted were jihadists, said. “Like millions of people in Germany, I am horrified, shocked and deeply saddened by what happened yesterday evening on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz.”

"I want you to know that all of us, a whole country, is joined with you in mourning and sadness," Merkel told reporters in the German capital. "There is much we still do not know with sufficient certainty but we must, as things stand now, assume it was a terrorist attack," Merkel said.

The main suspect in the attack is a 23-year-old Pakistani citizen who arrived in Germany a year ago and has been living in a refugee home, German media reported citing security sources. German Tagesspiegel said that he was known to the authorities as a small-time criminal. German authorities declined to provide information on the suspect’s identity, saying they would hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. in Berlin.

“I know that it will be especially difficult for us all to bear if it is confirmed that somebody carried this out who was given protection and asylum in Germany,” Merkel said.

The man has denied any involvement in the attack, security officials told German news agency DPA. The chancellor said that all of Germany was united in grief, adding that it would be particularly painful if the attacker "came to Germany for protection and asylum."

Merkel promised that those responsible for the attack would be punished "with the full strength of our law."

She added that the suspected attack should not keep Germans from living their normal lives and visiting Christmas markets in the future. "We do not want to live with the fear of evil paralyzing us," Merkel said.

Investigators in the German capital, Berlin, are assuming that a truck that plowed into a Christmas market "was deliberately steered into the crowd." The suspected driver was detained near the scene while a passenger was found dead in the truck. The dead passenger has been identified by police as a Polish national, but authorities have not officially commented on the nationality of the suspected driver.

German special forces stormed a hangar at Berlin's Tempelhof airport where the city's largest refugee shelter is located, reported German newspaper "Die Welt." The suspect was allegedly registered at the refugee center there, the paper said.

The Interior Ministry said Germany's Christmas markets and other large events will continue to take place but with "adjusted" security measures - although Berlin's markets will remain closed on Tuesday out of respect for the victims.

Berlin police will hold a press conference in the afternoon.

After the attack, some German politicians close to Merkel, called for changes in Germany's migration policy while others cautioned against inciting hatred against migrants. "We owe it to the victims, to those affected and to the whole population to rethink our immigration and security policy and to change it," said Horst Seehofer, the leader of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) - the sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Meanwhile, Merkel's political opponents quickly seized the opportunity to again attack her "open door" refugee policy, which has polarized voters and fed support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party, known as the AfD. While the influx of asylum seekers has dropped off substantially this year, the Berlin deaths threaten to further erode Merkel's domestic political standing going into an election year.

“Germany is no longer safe,” AfD co-chairwoman Frauke Petry said in an e-mailed statement. “We must be under no illusions. The breeding ground in which such acts can flourish has been negligently and systematically imported over the past year and a half.” She added that "radical Islamic terrorism has struck in the heart of Germany."

Germany's Green party, on the other hand, warned that the AfD was using the attack in order to rile up anti-foreigner sentiments. "We don't need any more incidents like these," Green party head Cem Özdemir told German public broadcaster ZDF, referencing Pretzell's tweet. "They're debunking their own message," he added.