A paper reading in German 'Berlin sticks together' is pictured near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, close to the site where a truck crashed into a Christmas market two days before, on December 21, 2016 in Berlin. (AFP/Clemens Bilan)
DÜSSELDORF, Germany — A Tunisian man wanted over this week’s deadly Berlin Christmas market truck rampage had already been in the cross-hairs of counter-terrorism officials over an attack plot, a regional minister said Wednesday.
A probe had been launched against the man — named by media as Anis or Ahmed A. — suspecting he was preparing “a serious act of violence against the state,” said Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.
Counter-terrorism officials had exchanged information, most recently in November, about the man, who was known to have links to radical Islamists, Jaeger told a press conference as police were searching for the man aged in his 20s.
Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere had earlier said the suspect police were searching for was “a suspect but not necessarily the assailant” behind the bloody attack that killed 12 people Monday.
Jaeger said Germany had rejected in June an asylum request by the Tunisian man, who had first arrived in the country in July 2015, but was unable to deport him because he said he did not have travel documents.
Tunisia had initially denied that the man was one of its nationals and had long delayed sending new papers, which Jaeger said were received only Wednesday.
An Iraqi refugee lays a flower at a makeshift memorial near the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin, close to the site where a truck crashed into a Christmas market two days before, on December 21, 2016 in Berlin. (AFP/Clemens Bilan)
Advertisement
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
