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Germany Releases Berlin Attack Suspect as ISIS Claims Involvement Germany Releases Berlin Attack Suspect as ISIS Claims Involvement
(about 2 hours later)
BERLIN — German officials on Tuesday released the chief suspect in the gruesome terrorist attack against a Christmas market in Berlin, launching a nationwide search for an attacker whom the Islamic State claimed had acted on the terrorist group’s behalf. BERLIN — For a Germany that likes to see itself as meticulous, the slip-up was startling: Hours after the authorities said they had grabbed a suspect in the deadly truck rampage at a Christmas market in Berlin, they acknowledged they may have detained the wrong man and began a desperate search for the actual driver.
Early in the day, the authorities announced that they had the arrested a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Germany last December as a suspect. But as the day progressed they expressed uncertainty that he was indeed the driver of the truck. The decision on Tuesday to release the suspect and the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the bloody attack inflicted a damaging blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.
By evening the federal prosecutor said the man had been released because there was no proof linking him to the crime. An examination of both the suspect and the cab of the truck turned up no evidence that he had been in it, the prosecutor said. On a chaotic day of grief and uncertainty, after 12 people were killed and dozens injured on Monday, leaders of the country’s rising far-right Alternative for Germany party assailed the chancellor in blunt, visceral terms, describing the victims as “Merkel’s dead.”
That meant the culprit was still on the run, and far-right politicians wasted no time in pinning responsibility for the deaths on Chancellor Angela Merkel. The attack, which saw a driver steer a speeding tractor-trailer through crowds of shoppers at a popular Christmas market in central Berlin, is already reshaping what promises to be a tumultuous European political year in 2017. Mr. Merkel is the most powerful defender of the reeling European Union, yet such a bloody terror attack on German soil is certain to complicate her campaign for a fourth term in office. The prospect that she could be weakened, or voted out, would be potentially devastating for the bloc.
The attack also ushered in the shattering realization that Germany, too, was now among the front ranks of European countries, alongside France and Belgium, that have suffered large-scale attacks in recent years. The German fight against terrorism, which has proved to be uneven, is not helping her. It was only two months ago when the authorities in the state of Saxony failed to catch a dangerous suspect who was preparing bombs in his apartment and arrested him only after three plucky Syrians caught the man, who then committed suicide in custody.
The Islamic State released a statement on Tuesday through its Amaq news agency describing the driver of the truck as “a soldier” who had answered the call to wage attacks against countries fighting the group, which is also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. But it offered no other details about the driver’s identity or whether he had directly interacted with the group or was just sympathetic to it. Beyond politics, the assault made plain that Germany, like France and Belgium, is now a primary European target for mass terror attacks. On Tuesday evening, the Islamic State issued a statement through its Amaq news agency describing the driver of the truck as “a soldier.” But the group offered no other details about the driver’s identity, or whether he had directly interacted with it or was just sympathetic to it.
The attack in Berlin, which killed 12 people and wounded many others, immediately heightened the sense of political vulnerability around Ms. Merkel, a linchpin of European unity. And it came at a precarious time of concern about Russian meddling and a populist backlash over her decision to open German borders to nearly a million migrants and refugees in 2015. The day began with what seemed to be a breakthrough, as the authorities announced that they were interrogating a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker, arrested the previous night, who arrived in Germany last December. Yet within hours, doubts arose that he was the perpetrator, and by evening the federal prosecutor said the man had been released because there was no evidence linking him to the crime. An examination of the cab of the truck turned up no sign that he had been in it, the prosecutor said.
Her political opposition issued a surprisingly speedy and stinging reproach, even in the midst of the grieving over the attack. The attack came at a precarious moment in Germany, amid concerns about Russian meddling in domestic politics and a still angry populist backlash against Ms. Merkel over her decision to open the German border to nearly a million migrants and refugees in 2015. Across Europe on Tuesday, where the threat of terrorism is now a factor in daily life, a familiar anxiety seemed evident in some major cities. Central Rome appeared oddly empty only days after shoppers had filled many streets.
The Berlin victims were labeled “Merkel’s dead” by Marcus Pretzell, leader of the Alternative for Germany party in the country’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. Frauke Petry, the party leader, said bluntly, “Germany is no longer safe.” In Berlin, several hundred people attended an emotional service held between the wooden stalls of the Christmas market, located beside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a symbolic site whose spire, jagged from bomb damage, was intentionally left unrepaired after World War II. Among those who came were a group of 60 to 70 members of a local mosque.
Daniela Schwarzer, leader of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said the statements offered a taste of the bitter debate to come in 2017. “They were very quick to link this directly to Merkel, and they said horrific things, blaming her for the deaths,” Ms. Schwarzer said. “We wanted to show our solidarity,” said Hasnen Ahmad, a member of the group, “and that our community stands for peace.”
Throughout the day, the German authorities expanded their investigation, even as they offered few details and apparently made fewer breakthroughs. At one point, the authorities pleaded with the public to turn over any videos or other evidence taken from the market during the attack.
A basic chronology did emerge: The attacker first hijacked a heavy truck belonging to a Polish company that was en route to Berlin bearing a load of steel girders. At some point, he apparently killed the driver and then, with the body still in the cab, sped east past Berlin’s Zoo Station and onto Budapester Strasse, a main thoroughfare.
Around 8 p.m. Monday, the driver swerved off the street and plowed through the Christmas market, steering between the rows of temporary wooden stands, which typically sell items such as handmade Christmas ornaments or mulled wine. Like most Christmas markets in Germany, this one was packed with shoppers, who suddenly tried to flee in horror.
After traveling at least 50 yards, striking scores of people and leaving behind a trail of shattered wood and glass, the truck swerved back toward the street, coming to a stop after it struck a wooden structure, according to German news reports.
German officials are normally tight-lipped about high-profile investigations, preferring to withhold any information until they have clear answers. Little was known about the 12 victims of the attacks, or about the wounded, though an Italian and an Israeli may have been among the victims.
Fabrizia Di Lorenzo, an Italian transportation specialist who has been living in Germany for three years, was missing and her father feared the worst after her cellphone and transit pass were found near the market.
“We are here with my wife, waiting for the DNA results,” Gaetano Di Lorenzo told Corriere della Serra, an Italian newspaper. “We are waiting for confirmation, but I am not deluding myself.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the attack “may have claimed the life of an Israeli citizen,” a reference to a missing woman, Dalia Elkayam, whose husband, Rami Elkayam, was injured in the episode.
Ariel Zurawski, the head of the Polish company that owned the truck, said the man found dead inside the cab was his cousin Lukasz, who was 37 and married with a child.
Mr. Zurawski said that Lukasz had been driving a shipment of construction materials to Berlin from Italy and that he had identified him from police photographs of the dead man. German officials declined to give further information on the victim.
The arrest of the Pakistani suspect came after a witness told the police that he had seen a suspect jump from the truck. The witness tried to follow him through a nearby park to where he was arrested.
Political opponents of Ms. Merkel quickly seized on his status as an asylum seeker to renew their criticism that her migration policies had made Germany vulnerable to terrorism — before the man was cleared of suspicion.
“Germany is no longer safe,” declared Frauke Petry, the leader of the Alternative for Germany party. Noting the successive terrorist attacks in France, including the Nice attack in July, Ms. Petry called the carnage at the Berlin market “not just an attack on our freedom and our way of life, but also on our Christian tradition.”
Daniela Schwarzer, the leader of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said the harsh reaction offered a taste of the bitter debate to come in 2017.
“They were very quick to link this directly to Merkel, and they said horrific things, blaming her for the deaths,” Ms. Schwarzer said.
“That gives us a sense of what is coming in the electoral campaign,” she said, adding that after an especially nasty presidential campaign in the United States, German politicians, too, may abandon traditional decorum.“That gives us a sense of what is coming in the electoral campaign,” she said, adding that after an especially nasty presidential campaign in the United States, German politicians, too, may abandon traditional decorum.
Early in the day, a somber Ms. Merkel, dressed in black, acknowledged what people across Europe had been fearing with the approach of the holiday season: One of the Continent’s ubiquitous Christmas markets appeared to have been targeted for assault. Early in the day, a somber Ms. Merkel, dressed in black, briefly spoke to the news media and later lay a white rose at a memorial near the scene of the attack.
“We must assume at the current time that it was a terrorist attack,” Ms. Merkel told reporters on Tuesday. “We must assume at the current time that it was a terrorist attack,” Ms. Merkel said on Tuesday, as she vowed to punish those behind the crimes “as severely as our laws demand.”
She later appeared in a black wool coat, bearing a white rose to lay at a memorial outside of a church in the heart of western Berlin, near the scene of the attack. In a country where a painful experience with totalitarianism has placed personal privacy at a premium, the investigation was sure to be complicated by the absence of surveillance cameras that have become the norm in cities like London. In addition to their appeals for tips or crime scene video, officials also pleaded with people to avoid posting them on social media outlets.
Even as she was mourning, Peter Frank, the country’s federal prosecutor, insisted that while the similarities to last summer’s Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, led his office to suspect that the Berlin assault was motivated by terrorism, he was unable to produce any hard evidence.
“We are investigating in all directions,” Mr. Frank said, explaining that he decided to start an inquiry given the symbolism of the target and the timing, less than a week before Christmas Eve.
“We have not limited ourselves to one suspect or one possible perpetrator,” he added, “But we can’t make a final assessment whether it is a terrorism-motivated attack, or whether it was a copycat act.”
In a country where a painful experience with fascism has placed personal privacy at a premium, the investigation was sure to be complicated by the absence of surveillance cameras that have become the norm in cities like London.
Instead, officials appealed to witnesses and the public to provide tips or video of the crime scene and any suspects, and to avoid posting them on social media outlets.
German officials are normally tight-lipped about high-profile investigations, preferring to withhold any information until they have clear answers.
The readiness to go public at such an early stage of the investigation reflects the sensitivity of the issue and the political problems Ms. Merkel already faces over her government’s policy of admitting refugees by the hundreds of thousands.
That policy, though welcomed at the time, has come under mounting criticism over the last year, as Germany has been targeted by a series of smaller, less deadly, but unnerving incidents involving foreigners.
“I know that it would be particularly difficult for all of us to bear if it is confirmed that this deed was carried out by a person who sought protection and asylum in Germany,” Ms. Merkel told reporters Tuesday. She vowed to punish those behind the crimes “as severely as our laws demand.”
What the authorities can say for certain is that a tractor-trailer with Polish license plates and laden with steel rods jumped a sidewalk around 8 p.m. Monday and plowed into the market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a symbolic Berlin site whose spire, jagged from bomb damage, was intentionally left unrepaired after World War II.
A man believed to be the driver fled after the attack and another man, identified as a Pole, was found dead with gunshot and stab wounds in the passenger seat, the police said.
Less than an hour later, a man who the Berlin police said was seen fleeing the scene was arrested nearby on suspicion of involvement. He was the Pakistani man later freed.
Although several hearings were scheduled in his asylum case, the man did not show up for several of them, and his application was still pending.
Officials in Berlin have been straining to deal with a flood of asylum applications. Although the number of arrivals has slowed recently from a high point in the summer of 2015, tens of thousands remain in communal housing, awaiting processing of their applications.
In addition to the 12 dead, 48 people were wounded at the Berlin market, 18 of them critically, said Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister.
The president of the federal criminal police, Holger Münch, said investigators were collecting evidence and using forensics to try to determine whether the suspect in detention had been driving the truck.
Security officials have been warning that Germany remains in the sights of terrorists, without naming any specific threats. Coming as many families were winding down their work for the year and readying holiday festivities, the attack left the country in subdued shock. Other Christmas markets in the city were closed on Tuesday, and flags were lowered to half-staff.Security officials have been warning that Germany remains in the sights of terrorists, without naming any specific threats. Coming as many families were winding down their work for the year and readying holiday festivities, the attack left the country in subdued shock. Other Christmas markets in the city were closed on Tuesday, and flags were lowered to half-staff.
“Twelve people were among us yesterday and were happy about Christmas and the holidays,” Ms. Merkel said. “This is incomprehensible, this act that robbed them of their lives.”“Twelve people were among us yesterday and were happy about Christmas and the holidays,” Ms. Merkel said. “This is incomprehensible, this act that robbed them of their lives.”
She urged people not to bow to fear and suspicion, telling Germans they must continue to uphold their traditions, even when faced with the reality that democracy is vulnerable. “We don’t want to do without Christmas markets, without nice outings together,” she said. “We do not wish to let fear and angst take away our freedom to live.”She urged people not to bow to fear and suspicion, telling Germans they must continue to uphold their traditions, even when faced with the reality that democracy is vulnerable. “We don’t want to do without Christmas markets, without nice outings together,” she said. “We do not wish to let fear and angst take away our freedom to live.”
Mr. de Maizière said that there would be increased security in public places and at key transit hubs, and that local officials would make decisions about events that might need to be curtailed for safety reasons. Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, said that there would be increased security in public places and at key transit hubs, and that local officials would make decisions about events that might need to be curtailed for safety reasons.
Officials have been aware for some time of the risk of attacks on holiday-themed events in Europe. The State Department issued a travel alert on Nov. 21 recommending that Americans “exercise caution at holiday festivals, events and outdoor markets” throughout the Continent.Officials have been aware for some time of the risk of attacks on holiday-themed events in Europe. The State Department issued a travel alert on Nov. 21 recommending that Americans “exercise caution at holiday festivals, events and outdoor markets” throughout the Continent.
“Credible information” indicated that the Islamic State, its affiliates and sympathizers “continue to plan terrorist attacks in Europe, with a focus on the upcoming holiday season and associated events,” the alert said, and that an attack could come with little or no warning. “Credible information” indicated that the Islamic State, its affiliates and sympathizers “continue to plan terrorist attacks in Europe, with a focus on the upcoming holiday season and associated events,” the alert said.
Germany’s populists seized on the attack to drub the chancellor for her immigration policy. Frauke Petry of the Alternative for Germany party said in a statement early Tuesday that “Germany was no longer safe” and told citizens that it would be Ms. Merkel’s “duty to tell you that.” Throughout Tuesday, Berlin residents bearing flowers and candles placed them at makeshift memorials on either side of the church. Oliver Horn said he had written the slogan “Même pas peur” (French for “Not even afraid”), from the aftermath of the Nice attacks, on a poster and hung it near the site on his way to work on Tuesday.
Noting the successive terrorist attacks in France, including the Nice attack in July, Ms. Petry called the carnage at the Berlin market “not just an attack on our freedom and our way of life, but also on our Christian tradition.”
Ariel Zurawski, the head of the Polish company that owned the truck, said the dead man was his cousin Lukasz, who was 37 and married with a child.
He said that Lukasz had been driving a shipment of construction materials to Berlin from Italy and that he had identified Lukasz from police photographs of the dead man. German officials declined to give further information on the victim.
The side of the market where the truck slammed into the crowd remained cordoned off early Tuesday.
Police officers patrolled the area, as Berlin residents bearing flowers and candles placed them at makeshift memorials on either side of the church.
Oliver Horn said he had written the slogan “Même pas peur” (French for “Not even afraid”) from the aftermath of the Nice attacks, on a poster and hung it near the site on his way to work on Tuesday.
“It just came to my mind,” he said of the gesture. “I felt I had to do something.”“It just came to my mind,” he said of the gesture. “I felt I had to do something.”
The sign caught the attention of Cyril Leteuil, who was visiting Berlin from Bordeaux. “It’s just like Nice,” he said. “We’ve seen this in France.”The sign caught the attention of Cyril Leteuil, who was visiting Berlin from Bordeaux. “It’s just like Nice,” he said. “We’ve seen this in France.”