Skip to content
A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network

Berlin Christmas market attack suspect a refugee, security sources say

161220084444-01-berlin-market-attack-1220-exlarge-169

Photo courtesy of CNN

Yesterday was a tough news day, especially for the holiday season, with a Russian ambassador gunned down in Turkey.  And there was violence in Germany as well. 

CNN reports that the man suspected of deliberately ramming a large truck into a Christmas market in Berlin yesterday is a refugee from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, according to two German intelligence officials and a police official.  The sources said the suspect in Monday evening’s attack, which killed 12 people and injured dozens more, arrived in Passau, a city on Germany’s border with Austria, on December 31, 2015, after traveling through the Balkans.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a press conference on Tuesday saying it would be “especially disgusting” if the suspect turned out to have been given asylum in Germany.  The incident is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.
 
UPDATE Dec. 21:  The asylum seeker originally a suspect in the Berlin market violence was released for lack of evidence.
 
KJ

Posted in: