Merkel calls Christmas market incident which killed 12 terrorist act

Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel has said Tuesday’s Berlin Christmas market incident that saw a lorry crash into a crowd killing at least 12 people, was a “terrorist act”.

Al Jazeera reported that Angela Merkel said on Tuesday, a day after the event in the German capital, that it was “a very difficult day for Germany”.

“We have to assume that this was a terrorist attack,” Merkel said.

Merkel said it would be “particularly sickening” if the attacker was in fact a refugee.

Police had earlier detained a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker.

But Germany’s top prosecutor, Peter Frank, said later on Tuesday that while investigators were treating the attack as an act of “terrorism”, though there is no claim of responsibility yet.

Frank also told reporters that it was not entirely clear whether there was one perpetrator or more.

He said the suspect in custody “may not have been the perpetrator or belong to the group of perpetrators”.

The detained man arrived in Germany in February, was known to police for minor criminal offences, and used several names, a police source said. He was staying at a refugee hostel.

The lorry struck the popular Christmas market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church late on Monday as tourists and locals enjoyed a traditional pre-Christmas evening near Berlin’s Zoo station. Dozens of people were wounded.

The interior ministry said Christmas markets in Berlin will remain closed on Tuesday out of respect for the victims.