The terrorist group said the attacker is a soldier of the Islamic State whose attack is “in response to calls for targeting the citizens of the Crusader coalition”
BERLIN, Germany – The Islamic State (IS) claimed the responsibility over the truck attack on a crowded Berlin Christmas Market on late Monday night that left 12 people dead and at least 50 others injured.
The admission of the Islamic State was in the middle of the hunt by the German forces against the perpetrator after releasing a man, who was initially believed to be the truck driver, for lack of substantive evidence.
The man is a Pakistani citizen who came to Germany in 2015. He was picked-up based on a description of a suspect who jumped out of the truck and fled the incident.
He also denied any involvement to the truck attack and the German federal prosecutors had found no forensic evidence proving he was in the cab during the rampage.
Through its Amaq news, the Islamic State said in a statement that the attacker was a soldier of their group whose attack was in response to the calls for targeting the citizens of the Crusader coalition.
But before the Islamic State claimed responsibility, the country’s top prosecutor, Peter Frank, said that the attack on the market outside the landmark Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church brings back the memories of the deadly truck attack in Nice, France.
Both incidents are alike when both are caused by a truck ramming a crowded market.
Frank said that the Berlin Christmas Market, like what happened in Nice, appears to have followed the instructions of the militant group.
Germany is not directly involved with the combat operations against the Islamic State but it has Tornado jets and one refueling plane stationed in Turkey in support of the coalition fighting the militants in Syria.
Germany has also a frigate protecting a French aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean sea.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized that the truck attack cannot change the way of life of their people.
Merkel issued an emotional, nationally televised statement before going to the scene of the attack in downtown Berlin.
“A gruesome and ultimately incomprehensible act has robbed them of their lives”, she said.
Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck later attended a memorial service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and laid white roses in remembrance to the departed victims.
Half of those who have been killed have been identified by the police as Germans and a man found shot and killed in the passenger seat of the truck was a Polish.