A Pakistani asylum seeker was on Tuesday apprehended for mowing down Christmas shoppers in a crowded market in the heart of Berlin with a large truck, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 50 others even as authorities retracted later saying he may not be behind the “terror attack”.
Hours after the 23-year-old Pakistani man, identified by German media as Naved B, was picked up from near the site and Chancellor Angela Merkel called the deadly rampage a “terrorist” attack likely committed by an asylum seeker, Berlin police chief said it was not clear if the man arrested was the driver of the vehicle.
The police said the “dangerous criminal” responsible for the country’s first mass ‘terror attack’ in recent years may still be at large, sparking concerns of a potential threat ahead of Christmas. “It is indeed uncertain he was the driver,” Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt told reporters about the suspect as interrogation and forensic examination was underway.