German authorities are investigating the killing of 12 people and wounding of several others by a truck on Monday night at a Berlin Christmas market as an attack — and have not ruled out the possibility of multiple attackers.
The Berlin police arrested a man suspected of driving the truck on Monday but by Tuesday had indicated that he might not be the attacker after all. Top federal prosecutor Peter Frank said: "We have to get used to the idea that he may not have carried out the attack."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke Tuesday morning for the first time since the incident, described the killings as "a cruel attack." She said the whole country stood with the victims.
The truck ran into the market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the Charlottenburg neighbourhood of Berlin at about 8 p.m. local time on Monday. It ploughed through stalls and tables and travelled 50 to 80 metres, according to the Berliner Morgenpost.
A Polish man was found dead in the passenger side of the truck. Germany's interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, confirmed that the man was shot with a shotgun and said no such weapon had been recovered. The man was identified by a cousin who owned the truck company where the man had been a driver.
The suspect in custody, who is denying any wrongdoing, was named by Germany's Bild newspaper as Naved B, a 23-year-old migrant from Pakistan. The head of the Berlin police, Klaus Kandt, said Tuesday that it was "unclear" whether the suspect was really the driver.
"We have the wrong man," a high-ranking police official told Welt.de. "And thus a new situation. As the real culprit is still armed at large and can cause new damage."
Kandt also said there had been no further arrests but there were further suspects the police would "do everything to track down."
A wide police operation took place early Tuesday morning at the emergency shelter for refugees at the former Tempelhof airport, where Naved B was reportedly registered. About 250 police officials were deployed, including members of a special unit. They searched through the shelter and interrogated six people, but no one was arrested, according to Welt.de.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter that the federal prosecutor had launched preliminary proceedings into the apparent attack.
Christmas markets in Berlin will remain closed Tuesday out of respect for the victims, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Merkel denounces 'cruel attack'
Merkel on Tuesday said: "A whole country is united with the victims and bereaved in deep sorrow. We all hope and many of us pray for them. That they can find comfort and support. That they can live on after this terrible blow."
The chancellor added that German authorities were investigating the destruction as a likely terrorist attack. She said she would visit the scene of the carnage on Tuesday afternoon.
Merkel also addressed the possibility that a refugee was responsible: "I know that it would be particularly difficult for us all to bear if the person who had committed this act, had asked for protection and asylum in Germany."
The chancellor's "welcome" policy toward refugees and migrants has led to intense criticism, even from within her own party, and she has since lost a lot of support to the far-right parties in Germany.
If a migrant link is confirmed, it could further sour sentiment toward asylum seekers. More than a million people have arrived in Germany this year.
German politicians on Tuesday called for a review of the country's refugee policies. Horst Seehofer, the head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union, one of Merkel's biggest allies, on Tuesday said: "We owe it to the victims, the affected, and the entire population to reconsider and realign our immigration and security policy."
Seehofer had already threatened last week to run as the opposition if Merkel did not agree to a cap on the number of migrants allowed to enter the country.
Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister for the German state of Bavaria, echoed Seehofer's call. He told Antenne Bayern that "if it should be confirmed that this attack was committed by someone who has been registered as an asylum seeker in the country, then it must lead in Berlin to a fundamental reflection on how this whole refugee reception is designed."
De Maizière, the German interior minister, announced that Tuesday would be a national mourning day in Germany and that all flags would be flown at half-staff.
Germany, like many other European countries, has been hit by a slew of attacks this year.
In July, a Pakistani man who had entered Germany under pretence of being an Afghan asylum seeker attacked random passengers with an axe on a train near Würzburg.
Ten people were killed in Munich on July 22 when a German-Iranian man opened fire outside a shopping mall. Fifteen people were injured in Ansbach when a Syrian refugee, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, detonated a suicide vest.
The latest incident in Berlin is reminiscent of the July 14 attack in Nice, France, in which 86 people were killed and more than 400 injured when a man drove a truck through a crowd that had gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks.
US President Barack Obama called Merkel on Tuesday and assured the German chancellor that his country would support Germany in the investigation, Reuters reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also sent his condolences to the chancellor. He said in a statement that "this crime against peaceful civilians is shocking in its savage cynicism."
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