Authorities inspect a truck that sped into a Christmas market in Berlin, on December 19, 2016. (AFP Photo/Odd Andersen)
German prosecutors say they’ve detained a Tunisian man they think may have been involved in last week’s truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday the 40-year-old was detained last Friday during a search of his home and business.
They said that the man’s number was saved in the cellphone of Anis Amri, a fellow Tunisian believed to have driven a truck into the Christmas market on December 19 that killed 12 people, and that “further investigations indicate that he may have been involved in the attack.”
Prosecutors have until Thursday evening to determine whether the case against the man holds up to the extent they can seek a formal arrest warrant. That would allow them to keep him in custody pending possible charges.
The body of suspected Berlin attacker Ani Amri is covered with a blanket after a shootout near a train station in Milan’s Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood, Italy, early Friday, December 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Daniele Bennati)
In Tunisia, authorities last Friday arrested Amri’s nephew and two other suspects, aged between 18 and 27, who they said were members of a “terrorist cell” connected to Amri.
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However, no direct link has yet been made between the trio of arrested men in Tunisia and the Berlin assault.
German authorities began their pursuit of Amri after investigators found his fingerprints in the cab of the truck that had been hijacked shortly before last week’s attack.
A clip shows suspected Berlin attacker Anis Amri pledging allegiance to Islamic State ahead of the truck-ramming at a Christmas market that killed 12 people (screen capture: YouTube)
Amri successfully evaded law-enforcement agencies for nearly five days before he was killed in a shootout with police in Milan after he began firing on the police officers after he was stopped during a routine identity check.
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The Berlin rampage was claimed by the Islamic State group, which released a video last Friday in which Amri is shown pledging allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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