The series of missed chances and ignored warnings behind deadly Berlin Christmas market truck attack
Questions are likely to be raised as to how the attacker was able to kill the lorry driver and commandeer his truck into marketgoers despite warnings of extremist plots
A COMBINATION of ignored warnings, policing blunders and missed opportunities lie behind last night's deadly Berlin truck attack.
As a result, German cops are today clueless as to the identify of the person responsible for killing 12 people and injuring another 48 in Berlin's night of horror.
Questions are likely to be raised as to how the attack was able to occur given security warnings about Christmas markets being targeted were issued just days ago.
And a few weeks prior to this, the US State Department said it had "credible information" ISIS was plotting massacres in Europe over Christmas.
The agency warned that "citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets".
Adding to this are new revelations detailing the movements of the attacker in the hours before the attack.
The registered driver of the vehicle, Polish trucker Lukasz Urban, 37, was found shot dead in the passenger seat.
His cousin Ariel Zurawski, who identified Urban, said: "His face was swollen and bloodied. It was really clear that he was fighting for his life."
He had arrived hours earlier in the German capital and spoken to his wife about 3pm, according to his cousin. But when she called again an hour later, there was no answer.
Mr Zurawski claimed: "At 3.45pm you can see the movement on the GPS. The car moved forward and back. As if someone was learning to drive it. I knew something was wrong."
Given the fact Mr Urban's body was found in the vehicle's passenger seat after the attack, this suggests the killer was able to spend hours learning to drive the lorry after shooting its driver dead without raising any suspicions.
When the killer finally did approach the market, authorities say he performed a lap around the block in order to determine the most deadly route of attack. This too went unnoticed.
Finally in the moments after the attack, the wrong man was arrested.
It has emerged the have-a-go-hero who took chase of the killer briefly lost sight of the person he saw jump out of the vehicle.
It was then that authorities swooped on the area and arrested the innocent Pakistani refugee based on a description that was similar to the truck killer.
The migrant, a 23-year-old asylum seekers, was released earlier today due to a lack of evidence. He strongly denied the accusations.
And in the meantime the real attacker remains at large.
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