This Friday a vehicle broke into a christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg and left at least two dead and fifty injured. While the terrible images of the place are known and the Police carry out the pertinent investigation, the authorities cannot help but think about the possibility of a attackas happened in 2016.
That Monday, December 19, around 8:14 p.m., a truck rammed into a Christmas market in Breitscheidplatznear the main commercial avenue of Berlinleaving 12 muertos y 48 injured, 18 of them in serious condition.
According to witnesses, including tourists and locals who were enjoying the festive installation, the vehicle entered the area about 64 kilometers per hour y It ran over dozens of people and destroyed many of the stalls.
When stopping, the driver fled on footheading towards Tiegarden Park. The Police arrested a Pakistani man two kilometers from the scene a little later but eventually released him due to lack of evidence.
The then Minister of the Interior of Germany, Thomas de Maizieremaintained that “There is no doubt that it was an intentional attack”while the chancellor Angela Merkel said that “We must assume that it was a terrorist attack.”
“Our researchers assume that the truck was intentionally directed towards the Christmas market”, reported the Police for their part.
The first steps of the research focused on the fingerprints found in the truck, which they pointed towards Anis Amaria young man Tunisian 24-year-old who had arrived in Germany in July 2015 in search of asylum. This request, however, had been denied, so his deportationalthough it was never executed due to a delay in the documentation required for the procedure.
According to experts, that Monday, shortly before attacking the market, there was stolen the truckregistered in Poland- and killed his driverwhose body he left in the passenger seat.
His accusation as the main suspect and the theory of an attack ended up being confirmed a day later, when the group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and added that it had been perpetrated by a “soldier” from their ranks. Additionally, that same week he released a video of Amari in which he was seen declaring his loyalty to the group.
Based on this data, the authorities issued a international arrest warrant against him and offered a reward of USD 104.000 for information that could lead to his capture. It was noted that it had multiple documents and that moved with up six identities different and three nationalities.
Four days later, the police Italia He found him when a group of officers patrolling the area around Piazza Primo Maggio in Milan asked him for his identification. Immediately, he responded with shots and, in the middle of that shootout, was dejected.
“The man killed in Milan is, without a doubt, the suspect in the attack in Berlin. As soon as that person entered our country as the most wanted person on the continent, we identified it and proceeded to neutralize it“, said then the Minister of the Interior, Marco Minitti, who added that the Tunisian had traveled by train from Turin to the city.
