A police spokesman described it as a "severe incident."

"A truck just ran over a sidewalk at #Breitscheidplatz Our colleague report multiple injuries. more to follow," Berlin police tweeted.

One witness Emma Rushton tweeted: "People crushed. I am safe. I am safe."

The incident happened in Breitscheidplatz in western Berlin.

Rushton, who was in the market when the truck came through, told CNN that the truck didn't slow down. "We saw at least 10 people" injured and lying on the ground, she said. Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief at Bild, a German tabloid newspaper, said the market would be busy every night of the week leading up to Christmas. The market is difficult to access by accident. "It looks like something that was adapted by Nice," Reichelt said, referring to the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, France, that left at least 80 people dead and more than 400 injured. Police could not confirm whether Monday's incident in Berlin was related to terror and had no information on the driver. One witness said the truck had a Polish license plate, according to Reichelt.</s>The truck smashed into wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages on Monday evening at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, one of west Berlin's most famous landmarks. Forty-five people were injured, 30 severely.

Islamic State claimed responsibility the attack, saying the perpetrator was a "soldier" of the militant group.

"He executed the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition countries," its AMAQ news agency said.

But Germany's interior minister said that despite the claim, investigators were following various leads.

"We just heard about the supposed claim of responsibility by this so-called Islamic State that is in fact a gang of terrorists," Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD broadcaster. "There are several leads that investigators are following now."

The Chief Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement it had been unable to prove that the suspect had been in the cabin of the truck at the time of the attack and said he had denied any involvement.

Earlier, Die Welt newspaper quoted an unnamed police chief as saying: "We have the wrong man. And therefore a new situation. The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause fresh damage."

Commenting on the suspect's release, de Maiziere told ZDF television: "That's why it is true that one cannot rule out that the perpetrator is still at large."

He said there was no doubt the Berlin incident had been an attack but the motive remained unclear. He also said it was not yet known how many foreigners were among the victims of the attack but no children had been among the dead.

News of the arrest of the 23-year-old Pakistani had led politicians in Germany and beyond to demand a crackdown on immigration, but Chancellor Angela Merkel urged caution.

"There is much we still do not know with sufficient certainty but we must, as things stand now, assume it was a terrorist attack," she told reporters earlier on Tuesday.

"I know it would be especially hard for us all to bear if it were confirmed that the person who committed this act was someone who sought protection and asylum," she said.

The truck belonged to a Polish freight company and its rightful driver was found shot dead in the vehicle. The Polish truck driver had arrived hours earlier in the German capital and spoken to his wife about 3 p.m., according to his cousin.

When she called again an hour later, there was no answer.

"At 3.45 p.m. you can see the movement on the GPS (Global Positioning System). The car moved forward and back. As if someone was learning to drive it," said the cousin, Ariel Zurawski, who was also the boss of the trucking company.

Merkel joined hundreds of mourners on Tuesday evening at a memorial service at the church near the attack site. Her spokesman said she had spoken with the leaders of seven European countries and also with U.S. President Barack Obama, who all assured her of their support for Germany.

Security officials in Germany and Europe have warned for years that Christmas markets could present an easy target for militant attacks. In 2000, an al-Qaeda plan to bomb the Strasbourg Christmas market on New Year's Eve was foiled.

There were no concrete barricades at the Berlin Christmas market, as have been installed at a similar venue in Britain.

The attack fueled immediate demands for a change to Merkel's immigration policies, under which more than a million people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere have arrived in Germany this year and last.

"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," said Klaus Bouillon, interior minister of the state of Saarland and a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Horst Seehofer, leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, said: "We owe it to the victims, to those affected and to the whole population to rethink our immigration and security policy and to change it."

The record influx has hit Merkel's ratings as she prepares to run for a fourth term next year and has boosted support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).

AfD leader Frauke Petry said Germany was no longer safe and "radical Islamic terrorism has struck in the heart of Germany."

The incident evoked memories of an attack in Nice, France in July when a Tunisian-born man drove a 19-tonne truck along the beach front, mowing down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day, killing 86 people. That was claimed by Islamic State.

The influx of migrants to the European Union has deeply divided its 28 members and fueled the rise of populist anti-immigration movements that hope to capitalize on public concerns next year in elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

On Tuesday morning, investigators removed the black truck from the site for forensic examination. People left flowers at the scene and notes, one of which read: "Keep on living, Berliners!" One woman was crying as she stopped by the flowers.

Merkel said Germans must not be cowed by the attack: "We do not want to live paralyzed by the fear of evil."

"Even if it is difficult in these hours, we will find the strength for the life we want to live in Germany - free, together and open."

Other European countries said they were reviewing security.

Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka called for biometric and fingerprint checks to be introduced along the Balkan route used by many migrants arriving in Europe in order to better control foreign jihadist fighters' movements.

London police said they were reviewing their plans for protecting public events over the festive period.</s>A man prays in front of candles and flowers at candles at Breitscheidtplatz after a lorry truck ploughed through a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a truck attack on a crowded Berlin Christmas market that German authorities said came right out of the extremist group’s playbook.

The Monday night attack on the popular market by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the heart of former West Berlin that left 12 dead and 48 injured, was the first mass casualty attack by Islamic extremists carried out on German soil. German security forces were still hunting for the perpetrator after releasing a man from custody for lack of evidence.

The claim of responsibility carried on the Islamic State group’s Amaq news agency described the man seen fleeing from the truck as “a soldier of the Islamic State” who “carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition.”

Germany is not involved in anti-IS combat operations, but has Tornado jets and a refueling plane stationed in Turkey in support of the coalition fighting militants in Syria, as well as a frigate protecting a French aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, among other assets.

The claim of responsibility came not long after German prosecutors said they had released a man picked up near the scene of the attack, initially suspected of driving the truck.

The man, a Pakistani citizen who came to Germany last year, was taken into custody based on a description from witnesses of a suspect who jumped out of the truck and fled after the attack.

Even before his release, officials had expressed doubt the man was behind the attack.

“We may still have a dangerous criminal out there,” warned Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt, whose office urged people to be “particularly vigilant” and report “suspicious movement” using a special hotline.</s>Berlin police are questioning a reported asylum seeker suspected of deliberately crashing an articulated lorry into a Christmas market in the western city centre on Monday evening, killing 12 and injuring 48, many seriously.

In a Tweet shortly before 6am, Berlin police confirmed that the incident was no accident, saying: “Our investigators assume that the truck was deliberately steered into the crowd at the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz.”

Hours earlier, Germany’s federal interior minister Thomas de Maizière said he “didn’t want to use the word attack although there is much to indicate in this direction”.

The broad traffic island between the Budapesterstree and Kurfürstendamm boulevard is home to one of Berlin’s biggest and most popular Christmas market, with stalls clustered around the iconic ruined tower of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church.

Eye-witnesses at the market reported hearing a loud bang as the black articulated truck left the Budapesterstrasse and ploughed into the narrow market walkways. It stopped short of the market Christmas tree beside the iconic ruined church tower, with its windshield shattered and demolished wooden cabins in its wake.

The suspected driver of the truck, reported variously as a Syrian and Afghan asylum seeker who was already known to police but not as an Islamist terrorist, fled the scene but was detained two kilometres away by police at the Victory Column, near the Brandenburg Gate.

Olaf Hermann, manager of an Irish pub 50 metres from the scene, said the market was not very busy on Monday evening.

“I’ve been outside and I’ve seen the truck, I’ve seen the guys, I’ve seen some of the dead guys as well, there was panic there,” said Mr Hermann.

Police believe the truck was stolen across the border in Poland at 3.44pm on Monday. In the cabin of the truck, behind the smashed windscreen, Berlin police found a dead man. They identified the man in the passenger seat as a Polish citizen but made no comment on the cause of death. The articulated lorry was carrying steel bars and was not scheduled to be travelling on Monday.

According to Polish media the truck was registered to a transport company in Gryfino, near the German border. The truck was en-route from Italy and the wife of the driver said she last had contact with her husband at 4pm.

Ariel Zurawski, the owner of the transport company, told Poland’s TVN news channel the driver was his cousin, a driver of 15 years’ experience, and he could vouch for his character. He claimed the driver of the truck in Berlin was not his cousin.

Eye-witnesses in Berlin reported seeing the truck barrel into the market just after 8pm, leaving the Budapesterstrasse with no lights on. It demolished wooden huts and crushed market visitors, bringing Berlin’s western city centre to a standstill at one of its busiest times of year.

By late evening, as emergency crews treated injured at the scene, the popular market near the zoo was empty except for police patrolling with machine guns.

At 10.20pm local time, the festive market lights were switched off, as public transport and all other traffic was diverted from the scene.

Germany’s federal prosecutor stepped in to take over the investigation of an incident with echoes of the July 14th truck attack in Nice when a truck raced down the promenade, killing 84 people and injuring over 150.

After several near terror misses, and a series of attacks during the summer, German authorities have been braced for months for a serious, fatal incident.

German authorities declined to be drawn on whether they suspected an Islamist terrorist link, urging locals over social media: “Please help us. Stay at home and don’t spread rumours.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said the German leader spoke with Mayor Michael Müller by telephone.

A book of condolence will be opened at the adjacent Kaiser Wilhelm church at 11.30 today, with an ecumenical mass at noon in the city’s St Hedwig’s cathedral.

As German investigators probe the suspect’s motive and background, the attack has shaken already strained public confidence in Germany, almost a year after over 130 women were sexually assaulted at New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne by men, including non-nationals and some asylum seekers. In the summer, Bavaria was rocked by a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks, with some perpetrators revealed as asylum seekers linked to Islamist extremist groups.

On Monday police in the southwestern city of Ludwigshafen confirmed they had a 12 year-old German-Iraqi boy in custody suspected of trying twice to detonate explosive devices, including one at a city Christmas market.

Even before the details of the attack were known the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a long-time critic of Dr Merkel’s refugee policy, wasted no time in blaming the German leader.

An hour after the Berlin incident senior AfD politician Marcus Pretzell attracted fury online for tweeting: “When will this hypocrisy finally end? These are Merkel’s dead.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said he was “horrified by the loss of life in Berlin”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs urged Irish people in Berlin to contact their loved ones to confirm they were safe and said anyone with concerns could call 01-4082000.</s>BERLIN -- Berlin police say a truck has run into a crowded Christmas market in the center of Berlin, killing at least nine people and causing multiple injuries.

Police said on Twitter that the truck rammed into the market outside the capital's popular Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Monday evening.

Bild newspaper posted a picture of a large Scania truck with its windshield smashed out on the sidewalk alongside the market.

Police say they're still investigating whether the incident was an accident or an attack.</s>Most winters, there are upwards of 60 Christmas markets in Berlin. Some run for a single weekend, some for more than a month.

One on the grounds of the Charlottenburg Palace specializes in woodwork and crafts. Others specialize in toys, chocolate or medieval activities such as blacksmithing, candle-making, stone-hearth baking and ancient music.

At the Spandau market in the deep western suburbs, Fridays are “Rock ‘n Roll nights,” an attempt to attract young shoppers. An old warehouse, Kraftwerk Berlin, is home to the Holy S--- Shopping market and features DJs playing techno music and stalls full of jewellery, artworks, designer clothes and comics.

At nearly all of these bazaars, shoppers bundled against the cold nurse cups of mulled wine or hot chocolate and nibble on warm almonds roasted in street carts and served in parchment cones as they look for a special gift or a new ornament that will become a family treasure.

The market tradition is so special, my wife and I have friends who have travelled to Berlin just to shop at them.

One of the largest and oldest markets is at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a solitary, damaged steeple in a square that is the remnant of Second World War bombing at the eastern end of Berlin’s famous Ku’damm shopping district.

It was into this setting – snow crunching under foot and live Christmas music filling the air – that someone, presumably a terrorist, rammed a highway transport truck filled with steel into the crowd at 70 km/h on Monday evening. Twelve shoppers and vendors were killed, another 48 injured, 30 seriously.

The fanatical Muslim terror organization, ISIS, has claimed credit. In a statement issued through its news agency, Amaq, ISIS insisted “the person who carried out the truck run-over attack in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition.”

That seems credible enough. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the man who ran over and killed 86 people in Nice, France this past summer was also welcomed by ISIS as a follower of its especially perverse, violent strain of Islam.

But taking credit for someone else’s work is easy. Until a perpetrator has been identified, there is no way to be sure who was responsible, directly or indirectly. As of the time of this writing, German authorities had released (for lack of evidence) the one suspect they had arrested and were operating under the assumption the true killer was still at large.

However, given that ISIS has called on its followers and on lone wolves in the West to attack innocent civilians wherever they gather for public events (a concert in Paris, Bastille Day in Nice, Christmas in Berlin), it doesn’t take a major imagination stretch to guess we are once again looking at a case of radical Islamic extremism.

Add to that the fact that Germany has welcomed well over half a million refugees in the past two years, most of them single, young men, a majority from the Middle East and North Africa, and many of them entirely unscreened for terror connections or sympathies, it is reasonable to bet that when an assailant is caught or killed, the world will learn he, too, was motivated by mutated Islam.

The West, starting with Europe, but including Canada and the U.S. too, has every right to demand possible refugees be cleared for threats to our security BEFORE they are permitted even to enter our countries.

It is not racist or xenophobic or even anti-immigrant to put one’s own safety and that of his family, community and country ahead of our political leaders’ desire to have open borders.</s>Firefighters inspect the site after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed several people in Berlin, Germany. (Photo: AP)

Berlin: A lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more in what police said was a suspected terror attack.

Ambulances and heavily armed police rushed to the area after the vehicle mounted the pavement of the market in a square popular with tourists, in horrific scenes reminiscent of July's deadly truck attack in the French Riviera city of Nice.

"I don't want to use the word 'attack' yet, although there are many things pointing to one," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told public television.

As witnesses described scenes of panic and carnage, police said at least 12 people were killed and 48 others were injured in the incident which comes less than a week before Christmas.

Australian Trisha O'Neill told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation she was only metres from where the truck smashed into the crowded market.

"I just saw this huge black truck speeding through the markets crushing so many people and then all the lights went out and everything was destroyed.

"I could hear screaming and then we all froze. Then suddenly people started to move and lift all the wreckage off people, trying to help whoever was there."

O'Neill said there was "blood and bodies everywhere".

A German police spokeswoman told AFP that a man who was apparently driving the truck had been detained while the passenger was dead.

Security sources cited by DPA news agency said that the man behind the wheel was an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan who arrived in Germany in February.

The daily Tagesspiegel said the man was known to police but for minor crimes, not links to terrorism.

The Polish owner of the lorry confirmed his driver was missing.

"We haven't heard from him since this afternoon. We don't know what happened to him. He's my cousin, I've known him since I was a kid. I can vouch for him," transport company owner Ariel Zurawski told AFP.

German authorities said there was no indication of "further dangerous situations in the city near Breitscheidplatz", where the suspected attack took place.

"We are investigating whether it was a terror attack but do not yet know what was behind it," a police spokesman said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted quickly to the tragedy, with spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeting: "We mourn the dead and hope that the many people injured can be helped."

Traditional Christmas markets are popular in cities and towns throughout Germany and have frequently been mentioned by security services as potentially vulnerable to attacks.

"It's awful. We were in Berlin for Christmas," said American tourist Kathy Forbes. "We also thought it would be safer than Paris."

The crash happened in the shadow of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church whose damage in a World War II bombing raid has been preserved as a warning to future generations.

The square is at the end of the Kurfuerstendamm boulevard which was packed with holiday shoppers.

Police said the truck made it as far as 80 metres (yards) into the Christmas market before it came to a halt.

Europe has been on high alert for most of 2016, with terror attacks striking Paris and Brussels, while Germany has been hit by several assaults claimed by the Islamic State group and carried out by asylum-seekers.

An axe rampage on a train in the southern state of Bavaria in July injured five people, and a suicide bombing wounded 15 people in the same state six days later.

In another case, a 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl in February stabbed a police officer in the neck with a kitchen knife, wounding him badly, allegedly on IS orders.

The arrival of 890,000 refugees last year has polarised Germany, with critics calling the influx a serious security threat.

The attack in Berlin also comes five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, killing 86 people.

In response to the Berlin tragedy, France beefed up security at its own Christmas markets.

"The French share in the mourning of the Germans in the face of this tragedy that has hit all of Europe," President Francois Hollande said.

The Nice bloodshed -- as people were watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day holiday on July 14 -- further traumatised a France already reeling from a series of jihadist attacks.

The United States labelled it an apparent "terrorist attack" and pledged its support.

President-elect Donald Trump blamed "Islamist terrorists" for a "slaughter" of Christians in the German capital.</s>Most winters, there are upwards of 60 Christmas markets in Berlin. Some run for a single weekend, some for more than a month.

One on the grounds of the Charlottenburg Palace specializes in woodwork and crafts. Others specialize in toys, chocolate or medieval activities such as blacksmithing, candle-making, stone-hearth baking and ancient music.

At the Spandau market in the deep western suburbs, Fridays are “Rock ‘n Roll nights,” an attempt to attract young shoppers. An old warehouse, Kraftwerk Berlin, is home to the Holy S--- Shopping market and features DJs playing techno music and stalls full of jewellery, artworks, designer clothes and comics.

At nearly all of these bazaars, shoppers bundled against the cold nurse cups of mulled wine or hot chocolate and nibble on warm almonds roasted in street carts and served in parchment cones as they look for a special gift or a new ornament that will become a family treasure.

The market tradition is so special, my wife and I have friends who have travelled to Berlin just to shop at them.

One of the largest and oldest markets is at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a solitary, damaged steeple in a square that is the remnant of Second World War bombing at the eastern end of Berlin’s famous Ku’damm shopping district.

It was into this setting – snow crunching under foot and live Christmas music filling the air – that someone, presumably a terrorist, rammed a highway transport truck filled with steel into the crowd at 70 km/h on Monday evening. Twelve shoppers and vendors were killed, another 48 injured, 30 seriously.

The fanatical Muslim terror organization, ISIS, has claimed credit. In a statement issued through its news agency, Amaq, ISIS insisted “the person who carried out the truck run-over attack in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition.”

That seems credible enough. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the man who ran over and killed 86 people in Nice, France this past summer was also welcomed by ISIS as a follower of its especially perverse, violent strain of Islam.

But taking credit for someone else’s work is easy. Until a perpetrator has been identified, there is no way to be sure who was responsible, directly or indirectly. As of the time of this writing, German authorities had released (for lack of evidence) the one suspect they had arrested and were operating under the assumption the true killer was still at large.

However, given that ISIS has called on its followers and on lone wolves in the West to attack innocent civilians wherever they gather for public events (a concert in Paris, Bastille Day in Nice, Christmas in Berlin), it doesn’t take a major imagination stretch to guess we are once again looking at a case of radical Islamic extremism.

Add to that the fact that Germany has welcomed well over half a million refugees in the past two years, most of them single, young men, a majority from the Middle East and North Africa, and many of them entirely unscreened for terror connections or sympathies, it is reasonable to bet that when an assailant is caught or killed, the world will learn he, too, was motivated by mutated Islam.

The West, starting with Europe, but including Canada and the U.S. too, has every right to demand possible refugees be cleared for threats to our security BEFORE they are permitted even to enter our countries.

It is not racist or xenophobic or even anti-immigrant to put one’s own safety and that of his family, community and country ahead of our political leaders’ desire to have open borders.</s>Police said on Twitter that they had taken one suspect into custody and that another passenger from the truck had died as it crashed into people gathered around wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in the heart of former West Berlin.

The nationality of the suspected driver, who fled the crash scene and was later arrested, was unclear, police said.

German media cited local security sources as saying that there was evidence suggesting the arrested suspect was from Afghanistan or Pakistan and entered Germany in February as a refugee.

"We heard a loud bang," Emma Rushton, a tourist, told CNN. "We started to see the top of an articulated truck, a lorry ... just crashing through the stalls, through people."

Rushton said the truck seemed to be traveling at about 40 mph.

Police later said that 48 injured people were brought to Berlin hospitals.

Pictures from the scene showed Christmas decorations protruding from the smashed windscreen of the black truck. In the aftermath, it was resting lopsided on the pavement with a mangled Christmas tree beneath its wheels.

Berlin police said on Twitter they were investigating leads that the truck had been stolen from a construction site in Poland.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the circumstances of the crash were still unclear, adding: "I don't want to use the word 'attack' yet although a lot points to that."

The incident evoked memories of an attack in Nice, France in July when a Tunisian-born man drove a 19-tonne truck along the beach front, mowing down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day, killing 86 people. That attack was claimed by Islamic State.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump condemned what he called an attack, linking it to "Islamist terrorists" before German police officials had said who was responsible.

The White House on Monday condemned what it called "what appears to have been a terrorist attack".

Germany has not in recent years suffered a large-scale attack from Islamist militants like those seen in neighboring Belgium and France.

But it was shaken by two smaller attacks in Bavaria over the summer, one on a train near Wuerzburg and another at a music festival in Ansbach that wounded 20 people. Both were claimed by Islamic State.

And government officials have said the country, which accepted nearly 900,000 migrants last year, many from the war-torn Middle East, lies in the "crosshairs of terrorism."

In mid-October, police arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of planning a bomb attack on an airport in Berlin. The 22-year-old man committed suicide in prison shortly after his arrest.

A government spokesman said Chancellor Angela Merkel was briefed on the situation by de Maiziere and the Berlin mayor. Police said there were no indications of further dangerous situations in the area and urged people to stay away from the scene.

"I'm deeply shaken about the horrible news of what occurred at the memorial church in Berlin," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

The truck veered into the market around 8 p.m., normally a crowded time when adults and children would be gathering in the traditional cluster of wooden huts that sell food and Christmas goods in an annual celebration replicated across Germany and much of Central Europe.

Ariel Zurawski, whose Polish freight company owns the truck, said the driver of the truck did not work for him.

"It wasn't my driver," Zurawski told Polish private broadcaster TVN 24. "I vouch for him. He's my cousin."

The incident took place near a famous Berlin landmark - the Gedaechtniskirche or memorial church built in 1891-95, which was left a ruin with a jagged tower after it was damaged in World War Two bombing raids as a monument to peace and reconciliation.

Police cars and ambulances converged quickly on the scene.</s>German police are on high alert and have said they may have arrested the wrong man over the Berlin attack, and the real culprit could still be at large and armed and dangerous.

Germany’s chief prosecutor Peter Frank told a press conference: “We must get used to the idea that he was possibly not the perpetrator or that he didn’t belong to the group of perpetrators”

Police meanwhile have urged people to remain “particularly vigilant” and to report “suspicious movement” to a special hotline.

Holger Münch, the head of the federal criminal police office, said at a press conference on Tuesday that “we need to work on the assumption that an armed perpetrator is still at large. As a result of this we are on high alert.”

During a press conference on Tuesday, German Prosecutor General Peter Frank also expressed doubts as to whether the detained Pakistani was the perpetrator, urging investigators to begin their probe under the “assumption that the detained man was not the actual perpetrator and did not belong to the criminal group” that carried out the Berlin market attack.

Earlier Die Welt newspaper cited a high-ranking security source as saying that the Pakistani refugee was not involved in the attack.

We have the wrong man,” Die Welt cited a Berlin police official as saying. “And thus a new situation. The actual perpetrator is still at large and armed, and can inflict more damage.”

Earlier Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt also said investigators are unsure if the Pakistani man arrested shortly after the truck attack was actually the driver who rammed the vehicle into a crowd at the Christmas market.

“As far as I know it is in fact uncertain whether that really was the driver,” he said.

Despite the heightened security alert, the preparations for New Year’s Eve celebrations will continue as planned, Kandt added.

Entrances to all Christmas markets will be guarded by police officers armed with submachine guns, and security barriers will be erected.

Police urged Berlin residents “not to follow dangerous developments on your own,” asking them to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement officers.

Berlin police tweeted that they are still on alert, after the Pakistani suspect denied any involvement in the truck attack.

“The temporarily-arrested suspect denies the offense. Therefore we are particularly alert. Please be also alert,” the police wrote.
Twelve are killed and more than 50 others are injured as a truck rams into a packed Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, Germany. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack.