German Police Seek Tunisian Man in Hunt for Berlin Market Attacker
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – German police are looking for a Tunisian man after finding an identity document under the driver's seat of the truck that plowed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people, on Monday evening.
The document was in the name of Anis A., born in the southern city of Tataouine in 1992. The man is also believed to use false names.
Daily newspaper Bild reported he was known to police as a possibly dangerous individual, and part of a large radical network, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Police initially arrested a Pakistani asylum-seeker near the scene, but released him without charge on Tuesday. Authorities have warned that the attacker is on the run and may be armed. It is not clear if the perpetrator was acting alone or with others.
The 25-ton truck, belonging to a Polish freight company, smashed into wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages, injuring about 45 people.
The Polish driver of the truck was found shot dead in the cabin of the vehicle. German media reported that he was alive until the attack took place.
Bild newspaper quoted an investigator as saying there must have been a struggle with the attacker, who may have been injured.
Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility, as it did for a similar attack in July when a Tunisian-born man rammed a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice. Eighty-six people were killed, and the driver was shot dead by police.
The head of the Association of German Criminal Detectives, Andre Schulz, told German television late on Tuesday that police hoped to make another arrest soon.
"I am relatively confident that we will perhaps tomorrow or in the near future be able to present a new suspect," he said.
