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| Berlin attack: police reportedly seeking Tunisian man – live updates | Berlin attack: police reportedly seeking Tunisian man – live updates |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 12.53pm GMT | |
| 12:53 | |
| More details are also emerging about Abu Walaa, the “faceless preacher”, who is linked to the main suspect in the Christmas Market attack. | |
| He was arrested in November with four others over suspicions that he recruited young Muslims to travel to Syria to fight for Isis, according to a report in the Local citing a report in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. | |
| Abu Walaa is alleged to have given sermons in the mosque encouraging people to travel to Syria to fight. | |
| SZ reports that [the] arrests were made possible by a statement given by a 22-year-old who returned to Germany in September after fighting for Isis in Syria. | |
| In an interview with SZ while still in Turkey, the young man had described Abu Walaa as “Isis’ number one in Germany.” | |
| Several German outlets reporting suspect had ties to Salafist network around "faceless preacher" Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A, aka "Abu Walaa" | |
| Updated | |
| at 12.53pm GMT | |
| 12.44pm GMT | |
| 12:44 | |
| Kate Connolly | |
| Kate Connolly has more on what we know about the new suspect Anis A. | |
| He has links to Salafist groups in western Germany. He is known to police as a dangerous person and is embedded in the Islamist network. | |
| Police say they’re carrying out extensive checks in the state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) where he was registered. | |
| He is 23, was born in Tataouine in 1992 and has used at least 4 aliases in the past. | |
| In the summer he came to police attention over a GBH offence but he went underground before they were able to arrest him.Police believe he is injured, possibly badly, and are scouring German hospitals to try and find him. | |
| DNA traces from the driver found in the car have been secured. Anis A has addresses both in Berlin and NRW. | |
| 12.39pm GMT | |
| 12:39 | |
| Philip Oltermann | |
| A police press conference that had been due to take place at 1pm (12 GMT) has been delayed, writes Philip Oltermann. | |
| In the meantime, more detail has emerged about the suspect Anis A from two seemingly well-sourced pieces in Sueddeutsche and from state broadcaster Tagesschau. | |
| He is said to have arrived in Italy in 2012, and came to Germany in July 2015, where he applied for asylum. | |
| Since April 2016 his status has been that of Duldung or “temporary suspension of deportation”, which means his application was rejected but he hasn’t been forcefully evicted. | |
| He was reportedly arrested by police in Friedrichshafen in August this year, and found to be carrying a fake Italian ID document. He had been registered at an asylum shelter in Emmerich on the Rhine, on the Dutch-German border. | |
| He had contacts with the circle around the hate preacher Ahmad Abdelazziz A., also known as Abu Walaa, who was arrested in November. | |
| Sueddeutsche reports that Anis A’s telecommunications had been watched by German intelligence agencies but that he disappeared off the radar in December. He had reportedly approached a man who worked as a police source in North-Rhine Westphalia to enquire about obtaining weapons. | |
| 12.30pm GMT | |
| 12:30 | |
| Alexander Ritzmann, director the European Foundation for Democracy and chairman of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network, said that if the suspect left identity documents in the truck that could point to a terrorist attack. | |
| Speaking to BBC News, he said: “It would fit into the pattern of terrorist organisations to leave behind documents. They are not supposed to hide the identities of the attackers or hide the organisation that commits the attack.” | |
| He added: “Terrorism is an extreme form of political communication so they supposed to explain what they did, how they did it and why they did it.” | |
| He also noted that Christmas markets have been targeted by extremists for “years”. | |
| 12.14pm GMT | 12.14pm GMT |
| 12:14 | 12:14 |
| German media have published pictures of the new suspect with his eyes covered or pixelated. | German media have published pictures of the new suspect with his eyes covered or pixelated. |
| Image of Berlin market attack suspect, Anis A. or Ahmed A. according to @Bild. 24 year old Tunisian registered in NRW pic.twitter.com/BJO0GjHWBH | Image of Berlin market attack suspect, Anis A. or Ahmed A. according to @Bild. 24 year old Tunisian registered in NRW pic.twitter.com/BJO0GjHWBH |
| Nach dem Anschlag in Berlin fahndet die Polizei bundesweit nach dem verdächtigten Tunesier… https://t.co/BlpDcEn6Sw pic.twitter.com/vfg6Ekzz4D | Nach dem Anschlag in Berlin fahndet die Polizei bundesweit nach dem verdächtigten Tunesier… https://t.co/BlpDcEn6Sw pic.twitter.com/vfg6Ekzz4D |
| 12.07pm GMT | 12.07pm GMT |
| 12:07 | 12:07 |
| Opening summary | Opening summary |
| Welcome to Wednesday’s live coverage of the manhunt for the suspect or suspects in the Christmas market attack in Berlin. Here is what we know: | Welcome to Wednesday’s live coverage of the manhunt for the suspect or suspects in the Christmas market attack in Berlin. Here is what we know: |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.14pm GMT | at 12.14pm GMT |