Truck plows into Berlin Christmas market






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UPDATE: Berlin police said on Twitter on Tuesday that investigators assume that the driver of a truck that plowed into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others, did so intentionally.German magazine Focus said on Tuesday that police special forces were storming a hangar at Berlin's defunct Tempelhof airport, which now houses a refugee accommodation centre.
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SLIDESHOW: The morning afterRescue workers inspect the crashed truck. REUTERS/Hannibal HanschkeA general view shows the area where the truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin. REUTERS/Pawel KopczynskiThe damaged windscreen of the truck. REUTERS/Hannibal HanschkeRescue workers tow the truck. REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschRescue workers are seen at the scene. REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschThe empty Christmas market near the fashionable Kurfuerstendamm avenue in the west of Berlin. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski
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RAID ON REFUGEE CENTRE
BERLIN - Local broadcaster rbb cited security sources as saying the arrested truck driver came to Germany via Passau, a city on the Austrian border, on Dec. 31, 2015. It cited the sources as saying the man was born on Jan. 1, 1993 in Pakistan and was already known to police for minor offences.German newspaper Die Welt said police special forces stormed a hangar at Berlin's defunct Tempelhof airport housing a refugee accommodation centre at around 4 a.m. (0300 GMT). It said, without citing its sources, that the arrested man was registered there.
A refugee there who gave his name only as Ahmed told Reuters security guards had told him there was a raid at around 4 a.m.
Prosecutors declined to immediately comment on the report.
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German Christmas market suspect is 23-year-old from Pakistan - Bild
Reuters UKThe suspected driver of a truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others, was a 23-year-old from Pakistan named Naved B., German newspaper Bild reported on Tuesday. -
German Christmas market suspect was migrant, known to police - source
Reuters UKThe suspected driver of a truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market and killed 12 people on Monday was a 23-year old migrant from Pakistan, a German security source told Reuters on Tuesday. -
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London police say they are reviewing security plans after Berlin, Ankara attacks:
London police said on Tuesday they are reviewing their plans for protecting public events over the festive period after Russia's ambassador was killed in Ankara and a truck ploughed into people at a Christmas market in Berlin.
"The Metropolitan Police has detailed plans for protecting public events over the Christmas and New Year period," police said in a statement.
"As a matter of routine, as a precaution, we review our plans after attacks overseas, and we are doing so at present following the awful incidents in Berlin and Ankara last night."
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JUST IN: Germany's Merkel and Obama spoke by telephone this morning about the Berlin Christmas market incident."President Obama assured the German Chancellor that the United States would support Germany in the investigation," said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert in a statement.
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Berlin Christmas markets to remain closed today
- Christmas markets in Berlin will remain closed on Tuesday out of respect for the victims killed when a truck ploughed into a crowd at a market by the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
Other Christmas markets and large events will continue to take place across Germany and appropriate measures to increase security should be decided on site, the ministry said following a call of state interior ministers.
"No matter what we continue to learn about the exact background and motives of the perpetrators, we can and we must not let them take away our freedom," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a statement.
Dresden tourist information service said authorities had erected concrete blocks around the Striezelmarkt, one of Germany's oldest Christmas Markets, to increase security.
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'We are in a state of war': German state minister
The interior minister of the German state of Saarland said on Tuesday Germany is in a state of war after a man drove a truck into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48, in a suspected terrorist attack.
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, to German broadcaster SR
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JUST IN: German newspaper Die Welt cites criminal police report as saying the suspect in the Berlin incident has had a temporary residence permit since June 2016.The report also said that there continued to be a high threat from Islamic terrorism in Germany but there was no concrete threat.A German security source said the suspect was a 23-year-old migrant from Pakistan known to police for committing minor offences.
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PHOTOS: Aftermath of Berlin truck incidentA man lights a candle near the scene where a truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital last night, on December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschA woman prays near the area where a truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on 20 December 2016. REUTERS/Pawel KopczynskiA candle with a sticker reading 'I am Berlin - For more humanity and compassion' near the scene where a truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital on December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio BenschPolice stand in front of the truck which ploughed last night into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital, Berlin, on December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Hannibal HanschkeRescue workers are seen at the scene where a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz square in Berlin, Germany, December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
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Europe's patience on migration running out, says Slovak PM after Berlin attack
ReutersEurope's "cup of patience" over migration is beginning to spill over, the Slovak Prime Minister said on Tuesday, following an attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 and wounded dozens. -
France seeks to reassure on Christmas festivities after Berlin attack
France's government sought on Tuesday to reassure the public about safety during year-end festivities after a suspected militant attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, saying security forces were working round the clock to prevent such violence.
French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux met his German counterpart in Berlin hours before a truck mowed into crowds at a Christmas market there on Monday evening, killing 12 and injuring dozens more in what police say was a suspected terrorist attack. (Full Story)]
The Berlin incident revived memories of the attack last July 14 in which a man drove a large truck into crowds of people celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 86.
Le Roux urged people to go out and party despite security fears, saying everything was being done to ensure protection, notably at hundreds of outdoor markets that draw millions of people into the streets at Christmas.
"Police and intelligence are on the job 24 hours a day. Protection is guaranteed. I want people to go out and enjoy themselves," he told Europe 1 radio.
He headed to Strasbourg in northeastern France to one of Europe's oldest Christmas markets, a sprawl of festive food, gift stalls and lights that draws about two million people ahead of Dec. 25, one of the main dates on the Christian calendar.
There are hundreds of similar markets across France, as in other European countries such as neighbouring Germany.
"We're not going to give in to blackmail and terrorism," said Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries. "That would be tantamount to handing victory to them and their propaganda battle against the West."
Large barriers had been erected to prevent vehicles entering the market zone in the ancient centre of Strasbourg, much of which is surrounded by canals and bridges, with security checks on people entering, Ries said.
More than 230 people have been killed in Islamist attacks over the last two years in France, including 130 in Paris by suicide bombers and gunmen in November 2015 - an assault for which the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.
Deployments of soldiers and police to sensitive sites such as airports and railways was boosted to 10,000 in the wake of the 2015 attacks, but later pared back to 7,000. Le Roux said the other 3,000 were on standby for year-end operations.
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Merkel's Bavarian ally urges policy change after suspected attack
ReutersGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies called on Tuesday for a change to Germany's immigration and security policy after a suspected attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people. -
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Police in Berlin will significantly increase security measures in the coming days, with steps such as erecting barriers, after the attack on a Christmas market on Monday evening which killed 12 people, the president of the city's police said.
Berlin city's interior senator also said that plans for New Year's Eve will go ahead but security steps will be reviewed.
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German police believe they arrested wrong man after attack: Die Welt
ReutersGerman police think that the man from Pakistan who was arrested as a suspect in the attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people on Monday was not the actual perpetrator, Die Welt newspaper reported, citing senior security sources. -
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Polish truck driver dropped out of contact four hours before Berlin attack
ReutersThe Polish truck driver whose vehicle was used in an attack on a Berlin Christmas market on Monday had arrived hours earlier in the German capital and spoken to his wife about 3 p.m., according to his cousin. -
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Merkel speaks of 'despicable' Berlin attack - Reuters TV
Reuters TVGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market is being treated as a terrorist act. At least 12 people have been killed after a truck ploughed into crowds on Monday. -
Merkel faces renewed criticism over immigration - Reuters TV
Reuters TVAngela Merkel under pressure over her immigration policy as German police investigate whether an asylum-seeker was responsible for the Berlin Christmas market crash -
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Refugees plead with Germans not to tar them with suspicion
Refugees in Berlin pleaded with their host nation to avoid placing migrants under a blanket of suspicion after police commandos raided their shelter, which had been home to a man arrested over a truck attack on a crowded Christmas market.
"We are of course worried," said Ibrahim Sufi, a 26-year-old Syrian living in Hangar 7 at the former Tempelhof airport, an imposing structure built by Hitler to showcase Nazi might and now being used to house migrants.
"We are worried about how the German public will view us after this terrorist attack," added Sufi, tucking his hands into his red jacket to keep warm on a freezing morning. "My message to the Germans is: 'Don't suspect everybody, don't generalise.'"
(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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