This has happened in Europe before.
Truck plows into crowded Christmas market in Berlin
By
Jamie Schram and
Chris Perez
Published
Dec. 19, 2016
A big rig cruising at 40 mph plowed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin Monday night,
killing at least 12 people in a suspected terrorist attack.
The crash happened in Breitscheidplatz square in the western part of the German capital at around 8 p.m. and left nearly 50 people injured.
The driver of the Scania truck was apprehended but has yet to be identified. He is believed to be a
Pakistani refugee who arrived in Germany in February, according to local reports.
A passenger — who was said to be riding in the cab at the time of the crash — was found dead after the suspected attack, though it’s unclear how he died. Berlin police later confirmed on Twitter that he was a Polish citizen.
“A man who was apparently driving the truck was detained,” a police spokeswoman told AFP. “The person riding in the vehicle is dead.”
The
incident was similar to the Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France, on July 14, in which a
French-Tunisian national plowed a cargo truck into a crowd of holiday revelers, killing 86 and injuring more than 400.
Officials warned that ISIS and al-Qaeda had been planning attacks for months, with a specific focus on the holiday season. The travel advisory is set to continue until Feb. 20.
The White House called the incident an apparent terror attack.
