Gina George/
Interior minister for a German state, Klaus Bouillon, on Tuesday, declared that Germany is “in a state of war” after the massacre on Breitscheidplatz Square, on Monday night – the seventh in the country this year.
Also, security officials have warned that another terror attack could be imminent in Berlin after police admitted the lorry driver behind the Christmas market massacre is on the loose, armed with a gun and they have absolutely no clue where he is hiding.
Reports say police already face difficult questions about their investigation into the deaths of 12 people after they arrested number one suspect Naved B, 23, only to rule out the Pakistani asylum seeker 12 hours later.
German prosecutors said, on Tuesday night, the suspect had been released from police custody, admitting there was not enough evidence to tie him to the rampage.
A senior security source reportedly told a German newspaper they have been unable to “track” the wanted man – and also do not know if he is a lone wolf or part of a larger terror cell.
Berlin prosecutor Holger Münch has also reportedly warned of a “serious threat” of another “significant” terror attack and Berliners were urged to stay indoors.
The city’s police chief Klaus Kandt said the “dangerous criminal” behind a deadly truck rampage may still be on the run.
Detectives interrogating chief suspect Naved B, 23, have said he has no blood on his clothes, no injuries and denies hijacking a 25-tonne lorry and using it to murder 12 people and injure 48 more last night.
A senior police officer told another German newspaper: “We have the wrong man. The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause further damage.”
Federal prosecutors said witnesses who had tried to follow the truck driver from the scene in the aftermath of the tragedy had lost track of the target. The man Naved B matched the witnesses’ descriptions of the truck driver, but investigators have not been able to prove he was in the truck’s cab at the time of the attack last night.
Germany’s top prosecutor Peter Frank also said earlier that they cannot rule out that more than one person may be on the run, adding Naved B “may not have been the perpetrator or belong to the group of perpetrators”.
At 7pm last night a juggernaut laden with steel cargo turned off its lights and ripped through stalls and shoppers at 40mph on Breitscheidplatz Square, outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the German capital’s main shopping area.
Witnesses said victims including children were sent flying like bowling pins and sucked under the wheels leaving ‘rivers of blood’ as the killer driver steered at them before jumping out of the cab and racing from the scene.
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God have mercy ooo