Berlin terror trucker suspect was ‘Pakistani refugee’, 23, who came to Germany last year
THE man initially arrested over the Berlin terror attack was a 23-year-old Pakistani refugee.
Named locally as Navid B, he is believed to have entered the country on February 11 this year and was known to police for petty crime.
One witness claims the suspect was masked when he ploughed a truck loaded with 25 tonnes of steel into a Berlin Christmas market last night, killing 12 people and injuring 50 others.
The vehicle mounted the pavement before crashing into a crowd of shoppers, tearing through stalls before coming to a stop after a deadly 150ft rampage outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the city’s centre.
Police are treating the rampage as a terror attack, saying they believed the truck was "intentionally" driven into the markets.
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The attacker, who is still at large, is believed to have hijacked the lorry from a Polish man, who had been shot and whose body was found later inside the cabin.
The cleared suspect was reportedly born on January 1 1993 in Tubat, Pakistan and registered with authorities in Berlin in February.
It was initially reported he was using several aliases which were similar to his first revealed name - Naved B after arriving in the country though Passau, a city in south-east Germany which lies on the Austrian border.
He travelled through the Balkans with thousands of other refugees and was staying in Germany's largest refugee camp, the former Tempelhof airport.
He was arrested after the attack and taken overnight to Karlsruhe before being cleared by cops who declared they had the 'wrong man'.
Berlin's Special Operations stormed the Tempelhof camp at 4am this morning and quizzed several Afghani refugees - but none were arrested.
Returning Jihadist fighters to Germany have told intelligence that ISIS regards the country as a prime target for terror - and has been striving all this year for a "spectacular" outrage to match recent attacks in France.
Officials currently classify around 500 Islamists in Germany as high risk and 250 of them are monitored around the clock.
But lone wolves are hard to spot and, when not part of an organised network leaving electronic footprints, almost impossible to catch before they act.
Chancellor Merkel said this morning: "An entire country is united with the victims and their survivors in deep mourning. We all hope and many of us pray for them.
"That they can find comfort and support. That they can survive after this terrible attack.
A service is to be held at midday for victims of the tragedy in Berlin's St. Hedwig's Cathedral conducted by Archbishop Heiner Koch.
The attack in Berlin comes five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, killing 86 people.
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