Suspect in Berlin attack had been under investigation for terror plot

BERLIN - A Tunisian suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack had been under investigation due to suspicions he had been preparing a serious act of violent subversion against the state, said a German state-level official on Wednesday.

North Rhine Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger said the Tunisian suspect's asylum request had been denied by German authorities in June. He had been due for deportation, but lacked the documents required from the Tunisian side.

Jaeger added that the Tunisian national - named by German media as Anis A, but known to authorities under several aliases - had been living in Berlin since February, but had also stayed in the western German state of North Rhine Westphalia.

He became the prime suspect in the attack when police found his immigration documents in a truck he is suspected of using to plow through a Christmas market in a busy shopping district of Berlin late Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others.

The Tunisian is considered by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as a so-called Gefaehrder (Danger to others) who is prepared to commit acts of terrorism at any time. Intelligence services are currently monitoring 549 of these potential terrorists.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry told dpa it is helping German authorities to identify the suspect, whom Tunisian radio station Mosaique identified by name and said was born in the province of Kairouan in 1992.

The Bild tabloid linked the suspect to Ahmad Abdelazziz A - an Iraqi man widely known under his nom de guerre Abu Walaa - the suspected head of a group that recruited for and provided financial and logistical support to Islamic State in Germany.

The high-profile imam was arrested in western Germany alongside four other suspected extremists in November.

Another security source told dpa that police were about to embark on a police operation related to the attack in North Rhine Westphalia. Bild reported that the suspect is registered in Cleves, a town near the Dutch border.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere confirmed that there was a new suspect in the case, but said that speculation about his identity was premature.

Shortly after the attack on Monday, a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker was apprehended based on a description from a witness. He was later released after no evidence was found linking him to the crime.

The RBB broadcaster reported that another suspect had been detained overnight to Wednesday and later released due to insufficient evidence.

Joerg Radek, head of the DLF police union, told Deutschlandfunk radio that the investigation was focusing on: DNA and other traces from the crime scene; an evaluation of the truck's GPS data; and material found on mobile phones confiscated at the scene.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through the Amaq news agency, the group's semi-official mouthpiece, saying that one of its soldiers had acted in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition of states fighting the terrorist group.

Islamic State often issued claims of responsibility for attacks in which it had no or only a limited role.

The German anti-immigrant group Ein Prozent said it would rally outside the Berlin chancellery at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, adding that Alexander Gauland and Bjoern Hoecke - senior members of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party - would attend.

Berliner Buendnis gegen Rechts, a left-wing group, said it would rally at Berlin's Hardenbergplatz at 5 p.m. to commemorate 'the victims and those left behind” and to protest the actions of groups 'using this crime to sow seeds of hate and to divide our society.”

Mayor Michael Mueller told ZDF it is 'good to see that Berliners aren't intimidated” after the attack, and that the city was 'standing together for our liberal life in Berlin.

Fourteen of those injured in the carnage remain in a life-threatening condition.

German President Joachim Gauck visited Berlin's Charite hospital early Wednesday to meet victims and later said that he had met a man who had been struck by a beam while aiding an injured person.

In a brief statement outside the hospital, the head of state said that he 'reminded (the victims) of their innate strength.”

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Italian counterpart, Angelino Alfano, visited the site of the attack to pay their respects to the victims.

The Christmas market there is set to reopen on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Schaustellerverband fairground organization said.