Home English News Berlin Christmas market attack: What we know and what we don’t

Berlin Christmas market attack: What we know and what we don’t

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A large truck rammed into a Christmas market in a busy shopping district in western Berlin late Monday in what German authorities say is likely to have been a terrorist attack.

WHAT WE KNOW

– At least 12 people were killed and 48 others injured when the truck ploughed through numerous stands at the market near Berlin’s Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church at around 8 pm (1900 GMT).

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– Security sources say the information available thus far indicates the incident may have been an Islamist terrorist attack.

– The driver of the truck fled the scene immediately after the attack.

– A man believed to be the driver was taken into custody shortly afterwards a few kilometres away.

– The detained man likely came to Germany as a refugee in February and was either from Afghanistan or Pakistan.

– A dead man, who police say was a Polish citizen, was found on the truck’s passenger seat.

– German police said they were working on the assumption that the truck had been stolen from a construction site in Poland.

– The truck belonged to a Polish freight company, and the owner said he had been unable to reach the driver, who was his cousin, since 4 pm.

– Though police warned Berlin residents to remain indoors, authorities said shortly afterwards that there was no evidence of further threats in the area surrounding the Christmas market.

– Berlin’s mayor Michael Mueller said the situation in the capital was under control after the deadly attack.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

– The identities of the suspect in custody and that of the dead Polish citizen on the passenger seat are unconfirmed.

– Although security authorities believe the suspect was from Pakistan or Afghanistan, exact identification was difficult as the man had used different names.

– The circumstances surrounding the suspect’s arrest were unclear.

– It was not clear how the Polish citizen on the passenger seat died.

– There was contradictory information about what happened to the truck shortly before the attack. While police were working on the assumption the truck was stolen from a Polish building site, the owner of the truck company said the driver was on his way from Italy to Berlin.

-dpa