Berlin: Police believe the lorry crash that killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market was a terror attack.

The articulated lorry ploughed into crowds at the popular market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Monday night and Berlin police say they believe it was intentional rather than an accident.

The driver of the lorry is said to have arrived in Germany in February as a refugee. The DPA news agency reported that he was an Afghan or Pakistani asylum seeker.

The death toll has risen overnight from nine to 12, officials said. Forty-eight other people were injured.

Witnesses said the market fell silent after the vehicle tore through tables and wooden stands at the Berlin City Weihnachtsmarkt at Breitschiedplatz.

Jan Hollitzer, 36, said he heard screams as the vehicle made its way through the stalls, but that the market was “really silent” as “shocked” shoppers looked on at the aftermath.

Mr Hollitzer, deputy editor-in-chief of local news outlet Berliner Morgenpost, said he saw “more than one” person lying underneath the truck.

He said: “First, I heard a noise, then he destroyed the booths on the market and we heard some screams, and then the truck came out of the market on the left side.”

Mr Hollitzer said he walked across the street to the market and saw destroyed stalls, broken glass, crockery and tables, and injured people lying on the ground.

“I moved forward and saw the back of the truck – it was a lorry,” he said.

“There were some people under the truck and it was really scary, really terrifying.

“I moved on the street to see the front of the truck, which was destroyed.”

Mr Hollitzer, who lives in Berlin, said that it became “more noisy” as emergency services arrived at the scene and the initial shock of onlookers subsided.

Mike Fox, from UK, told The Associated Press that the truck had missed him by about three metres.

He said he had seen people trapped under stalls and others who appeared to have broken limbs.

“You do what you can to help who you can, really,” he said.

“It happened so fast that there was nothing we could do to stop it – if we’d tried to stop it we would have been crushed.”

Authorities in Berlin were already on high alert for a potential terrorist attack, with festive gatherings the subject of heightened security.

The German government has put increased security in place as a precaution at public buildings, major events, transport hubs and large public gatherings.

There are more than 100 stalls from around the world at the market, selling traditional decorations, festive food and drink and children’s toys.

 

 

(source: Evening Standard)