Suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack released
Attacker could still be on the run, Germany's interior ministry says following release of a Pakistani refugee suspect.
Suspect in Berlin Christmas market attack released
Attacker could still be on the run, Germany's interior ministry says following release of a Pakistani refugee suspect.
The man released was a young Pakistani refugee who had arrived in Germany in February.
"The investigation up to now did not yield any urgent suspicion against the accused," the prosecutor's office said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said the suspect had made extensive statements during a police hearing, but had denied the offence.
The prosecutor's office also said that it had been impossible to track the lorry driver by witnesses after Monday's attack and that, so far, police had not been able to prove that the suspect was in the lorry at the time of the attack.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas Maiziere said he would not rule out the possibility that the perpetrator was still on the run.
German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, have called the incident a "terrorist" attack.
Before the Pakistani man was released, Merkel had said on Tuesday that it would be "particularly sickening" if the attacker was a refugee.
'Horrible' scenes
The truck struck the popular Christmas market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church late on Monday as tourists and locals enjoyed a traditional pre-Christmas evening near Berlin's Zoo station.Dozens of people were wounded.
Jan Hollitzer, a witness, told Al Jazeera the truck drove about 50 metres through the market.
Recalling the scene, Hollitzer said the vehicle was travelling "very fast".
"It was really horrible. There were many casualties and injured people," he said.
"I saw people hit by the truck and also people under the truck ... I can tell you those are images you don't want to see."
Among the dead was a man in the lorry, who died as paramedics treated him, Winfried Wenzel, Berlin police spokesman, said.
Police identified him as a Polish national, but did not give further details.
The truck had a Polish licence plate, police said.
The Polish owner of the lorry said he feared the vehicle may have been hijacked.
Merkel says Christmas market incident a 'terrorist act'
At least 12 were killed as a lorry ploughed into a crowd, an act officials say was intentional as they continue probe.
Angela Merkel said on Tuesday, a day after the event in the German capital, that it was "a very difficult day for Germany".
"We have to assume that this was a terrorist attack," Merkel said.
Merkel said it would be "particularly sickening" if the attacker was in fact a refugee.
Police had detained a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker. However, late on Tuesday, he was released because of insufficient evidence, German prosecutors said.
Germany's top prosecutor, Peter Frank, said that while investigators were treating the attack as an act of "terrorism", though there is no claim of responsibility yet.
Frank also told reporters that it was not entirely clear whether there was one perpetrator or more.
The lorry struck the popular Christmas market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church late on Monday as tourists and locals enjoyed a traditional pre-Christmas evening near Berlin's Zoo station. Dozens of people were wounded.
The interior ministry said Christmas markets in Berlin will remain closed on Tuesday out of respect for the victims.
 |
| A damaged windscreen of a lorry that slammed into a crowd at a Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz square near the fashionable Kurfuerstendamm avenue [Reuters] |
Recalling the scene, Hollitzer said the vehicle was travelling "very fast".
"It was really horrible. There were many casualties and injured people," he said. "I saw people hit by the truck and also people under the truck ... I can tell you those are images you don't want to see."
Among the dead was a man in the lorry, who died as paramedics treated him, Berlin police spokesman Winfried Wenzel said. Police identified him as a Polish national, but didn't give further details.
The lorry had a Polish licence plate, police said. The Polish owner of the truck said he feared the vehicle may have been hijacked.
 |
| A tow lorry operates at the scene where a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market [Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters] |
"We must say that we are in a state of war although some people, who always only want to see good, do not want to see this," Klaus Bouillon told German broadcaster SR.
The incident came less than a month after the US State Department called for caution in markets and other public places across Europe, saying armed groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and al-Qaeda were focusing "on the upcoming holiday season and associated events".
ISIL and al-Qaeda have both called on followers to use lorries in particular to attack crowds
On July 14, a lorry ploughed into Bastille Day revellers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 86 people. ISIL claimed responsibility for that attack, which was carried out by a Tunisian living in France.
 |
| Flowers and candles are placed near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin after a lorry ran into a crowded Christmas market [Britta Pedersen/AP] |
Five people were wounded in an axe attack on a train near Wuerzburg and 15 in a bombing outside a bar in Ansbach, both in the southern state of Bavaria. Both attackers were killed.
Those attacks, and two others unrelated to armed groups in the same week-long period, contributed to tensions in Germany over the arrival last year of 890,000 refugees.
The far-right party AfD, which has been critical of Merkel's immigration policy, has gained support in recent regional elections, as it blames Europe's security woes on refugees.
Horst Seehofer, leader of Bavaria's Christian Social Union - the sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats - called for a review of Germany's security policies.
"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 Seehofer.
copy http://www.aljazeera.com/news
Source: News agencies
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário