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Josef Joffe said Germany has only had to deal with no or low victim lone-wolf attacks, unlike many other Western countries, until this year but after a spate of seven in 2016 the government will be forced to change the way the country is run. The publisher-editor of Die Zeit, a weekly German newspaper, and professor at two Ivy League universities, said border controls, which have only this year been reinstated after 1.1million migrants entered in 2015, will be tightened and domestic surveillance will be upped after Monday's "Berlin bloodbath". A total of 12 people were killed and 48 injured, with 14 still in critical condition, after a large lorry was driven about 60 metres through a Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, central Berlin.

Reuters Angela Merkel has a big possibility of losing the election after the Berlin terror attack

Germany, once lucky, has now joined the club of terror targets in the West, along with the US, Britain and France Josef Joffe

Moments after the Berlin terror attack a 23-year-old Pakistani migrant was arrested but was yesterday released due to lack of evidence. ISIS last night claimed responsibility for the attack as anti-terror squads desperately searched for the Berlin attacker.

Getty Josef Joppe is a respected German political commentator and university professor

Mr Joffe, writing in The Guardian, said: "In general, Germany has been lucky - and smart in ways that did not always please its allies. "German troops stayed out of Iraq. Where fealty to an alliance left no other choice, as in Afghanistan, they picked areas where combat appeared unlikely. "In the Middle East, the German air force flies reconnaissance only - no bombing. Germany has worked hard not to become a target for retaliation. "But now the cocoon has burst for good."

Mrs Merkel promised the culprits will be punished "as hard as our laws demand" as the nation reacted in shock. Mr Joffe, added: "This was not supposed to happen in a country that has been able to foil more terror attacks than have actually occurred. "And this, it must be said, with the help of the much-maligned NSA, plus the British GCHQ and the French DGSE."

Reuters Mourners have placed hundreds of flowers at the terror scene

Reuters The large truck ploughed through market stalls, killing 12 and injuring 48

The Stanford and Harvard professor said Germans are "ever protective of our privacy laws" but will have to get used to increased surveillance by national intelligence services as well as by their allies. Data gathering and cyber warfare capabilities have already been strengthened in Germany in response to threats from Russia.

BERLIN TERROR: 'TWELVE' dead as truck crashed into crowd at Christmas market Tue, December 20, 2016 A truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin killing at least 12 and injuring 48 Play slideshow REUTERS•AFP 1 of 21 A truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin killing at least 12 and injuring 48

He added: "Now, Germany will invest even more in security - and perhaps show a bit more gratitude to the NSA, GCHQ and DGSE. "Pacifism, the nation's traditional posture since the Second World War, is losing its lustre as Putinist expansionism encroaches on Nato's eastern borders, while Donald Trump dismisses the alliance as "obsolete". And if the attacker turns out to be a refugee Mrs Merkel faces being ousted in next year's elections by anti-migrant parties on the right as the country struggles to deal with the migrant crisis, let alone terror attacks carried out by them.