BERLIN—German authorities are calling the truck attack on a crowded Christmas market an “act of terrorism” that had all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism—but many questions remained over who carried out the attack that killed 12 people and wounded nearly 50 in the heart of Berlin.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday night released a man taken into custody in the vicinity of the crime on suspicion that he drove the vehicle in the attack Monday night, saying they hadn’t found evidence putting him in the truck at that time.
The man, a Pakistani citizen who came to Germany last year, had been picked up based upon a description of the man who jumped out of the truck and fled. But prosecutors said he had denied any involvement in the attack. Prosecutors also said no forensic evidence had been found proving that he was in the cab during the rampage, and no witnesses had followed him from the scene of the carnage to where he had been picked up.
Under German law, prosecutors have until the end of the calendar day following an arrest to seek a formal arrest warrant keeping a suspect in custody.
