Truck plows into Berlin Christmas market
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German police say arrested man may not be Christmas market attacker
A Pakistani asylum-seeker arrested on suspicion of killing 12 people by mowing through a Berlin Christmas market in a truck may not be the attacker, and the real perpetrator could still be on the run, German police said on Tuesday. -
A mourner knees in front of the scene. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke For more of our latest photos from Berlin: www.reuters.com
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Truck attack shows Merkel's vulnerability
For months, Germany's Angela Merkel has looked like the one safe bet in European politics. -
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Berlin Christmas markets shut, others tighten securityBERLIN, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Christmas markets in Berlin stayed shut on Tuesday as the city mourned the victims of the previous evening's truck rampage, while security measures were stepped up at similar events elsewhere in Germany and abroad.Germany’s interior ministry said other Christmas markets and large gatherings would not be called off, and appropriate steps to increase security should be decided at each location.Flags flew at half mast out of respect for those killed when a truck ploughed into a crowd at a market by Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church on Monday."No matter what we continue to learn about the exact background and motives of the perpetrators, we ...must not let them take away our freedom," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a statement.Michael Krzyzniewski, security a expert for big public events, said safety measures were already in place at Christmas markets though some might want to review them. He said erecting protective concrete barriers was one option.In Dresden, the tourist information service said authorities had done that around the Striezelmarkt, one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets."This has several serious downsides, for example it is then no longer possible for emergency vehicles to access the market in case someone has a heart attack," Krzyzniewski said."We need to make sure that we don’t fall into panic and call for knee-jerk measures."The association of German fairground exhibitors recommended markets hold a minute's silence at 1700 GMT and refrain from playing music on Tuesday. -
Berlin Christmas market attack threatens European tourism again
ReutersThe truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday evening is the latest blow for Europe's tourism industry, hitting a city that had been attracting more and more visitors in recent years. -
Obama offers assistance to Merkel after Christmas market attack
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday night to offer condolences and U.S. help after a truck crashed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 and wounding dozens, the White House said.
Obama offered condolences for the "horrific apparent terrorist attack," it said in a statement on Tuesday. "The president reiterated the U.S. offer of assistance and underscored that no attack could sway our determination - and that of our German allies - to defeat terrorism in all of its forms," the statement said.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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German President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Norbert Lammert, President of Germany's lower house of parliament Bundestag (from R) attend a service at Berlin's Memorial church (Gedaechtniskirche) to commemorate the 12 killed victims of a truck that ploughed into a crowded Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. REUTERS/Michael Kappeler/Pool
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Berlin's Mayor Michael Mueller fights with tears as he is flanked by German President Joachim Gauck (L) and German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble during a memorial service in Berlin's Memorial church (Gedaechtniskirche) to commemorate the 12 killed victims of a truck that plowed into a crowded Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. REUTERS/Michael Kappeler/Pool
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Cologne train station bomb threat was a false alarm, police say
Cologne's main train station was briefly evacuated after a telephone bomb threat, but it turned out to be a false alarm, a German police spokesman said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Victoria Bryan)
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German prosecutors release suspected Christmas market attacker
A man arrested on suspicion of killing 12 people by mowing through a Berlin Christmas market in a truck has been released, the Chief Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday.
"The investigation up to now did not yield any urgent suspicion against the accused," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The prosecutor's office said the suspect had made extensive statements during a police hearing, but had denied the offence.
It added it had been impossible to track the truck driver by eye-witnesses following the attack and that the investigation so far had not been able to prove that the suspect was in the truck's cab at the time of the attack.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley and Michael Nienaber)
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Islamic state claims responsibility for Berlin truck attack
Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack in which a truck ploughed into crowds in a Christmas market and killed 12 people.
"The executor of the operation.. in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic state and he executed the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition countries," the militant group's AMAQ news agency said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Ali Abdelaty, Writing by Amina Ismail, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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German minister: Investigators following several leads in Berlin attack
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday that investigators are following several leads on the Berlin Christmas market attack that killed 12 people.
"We just heard about the supposed claim of responsibility by this so-called Islamic State that is in fact a gang of terrorists," de Maiziere told ARD broadcaster.
"There are several leads that investigators are following now," the minister added.
De Maiziere added that "nobody will rest until the perpetrator or the perpetrators are caught".
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber,; Editing by Michelle Martin)
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Germany frees suspect in market attack, says perpetrator maybe still at large
- German authorities on Tuesday released a Pakistani asylum-seeker suspected of driving a truck into a Berlin Christmas market and killing 12 people due to a lack of evidence.
- The German interior minister said the real perpetrator may still be on the run.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility the attack, saying the perpetrator was a "soldier" of the militant group.
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Police released latest arrested suspect in Berlin market attack - media
German police arrested another suspect in the early hours of Wednesday morning related to an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people but later released him, German broadcaster rbb reported on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening police also released a Pakistani asylum-seeker who was arrested near the scene shortly after Monday's attack and authorities warned the attacker is on the run and may be armed.
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MORE: German police are looking for a Tunisian man after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of the truck which ploughed into a Christmas market on Monday evening, killing 12 people, Der Spiegel's online edition reported on Wednesday.Der Spiegel, which did not cite its sources, said the document was in the name of Anis A., born in Tataouine in 1992. The man is also believed to use false names.
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Police to close some roads around Buckingham Palace after Berlin attack
Reuters UKBritish police said they would temporarily close roads around Queen Elizabeth's London residence Buckingham Palace during a military ceremony on Wednesday, bringing forward plans to do so in response to a truck attack in Berlin. -
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German police seek Tunisian in hunt for Christmas market attacker
Reuters UKGerman police are looking for a Tunisian man after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of the truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people, on Monday evening, security sources said. -
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German market attack suspect left Tunisia seven years ago - Tunisian radio
The Tunisian man suspected in the Berlin Christmas market attack left Tunisia seven years ago as an illegal immigrant and spent time in prison in Italy, his father and security sources told Tunisia's Radio Mosaique on Wednesday.
The radio reported on its website that security sources had named the suspect as Anis Amri from Oueslatia in rural central Tunisia. He served four years in jail in Italy on accusations of burning a school, it said. The father told the radio station that his son left for Germany a year ago.
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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German police hunt Tunisian asylum-seeker over Christmas market attack
German police are looking for an asylum-seeker from Tunisia after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of a truck that plowed into a Berlin Christmas market and killed 12 people, officials and security sources said on Wednesday. -
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Germany police hunt Tunisian asylum-seeker over Christmas market attack
ReutersGerman police are looking for an asylum-seeker from Tunisia after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of a truck that plowed into a Berlin Christmas market and killed 12 people, officials and security sources said on Wednesday.
Spain-Catalonia standoff set to intensify as leaders take hard lines
MADRID Spain's political showdown with Catalonia is set to reach a new level on Thursday when political leaders in Madrid and Barcelona are expected to make good on pledges made to their supporters to stick to their tough positions over the region's future.