Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said the incident Monday at a Berlin Christmas market that left 12 people dead and dozens more injured is a “terrorist attack.” Here’s the New York Times with more:
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said that the Berlin Christmas market where 12 people died Monday night was the target of a terrorist attack, and that the authorities were investigating whether it was perpetrated by a migrant or refugee. “We must assume at the current time that it was a terrorist attack,” Ms. Merkel said on Tuesday. “I know that it would be particularly difficult for all of us to bear if it would be confirmed that this deed was carried out by a person who sought protection and asylum in Germany.” Ms. Merkel, dressed in black, made a brief appearance before reporters, saying that she was “horrified, shaken and deeply sad.” It will be punished “as severely as our laws demand,” Ms. Merkel said, clearly conscious that her policy of admitting refugees by the hundreds of thousands is likely to come under scrutiny even from allies, and heavy criticism from the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany party.
Die Welt, a German newspaper, reports a Pakistani-born man Berlin police had brought into custody is not the perpetrator of the attack and warned the culprit remains at large.
