Germany frees only suspect in Christmas market attack

The press spokesperson of the federal prosecutor’s office, Frauke Koehler. (AP)

BERLIN: German police Thursday freed a Tunisian man initially believed to be an accomplice in the Christmas market attack, as details emerged of how security services underestimated the threat posed by suspected jihadist killer Anis Amri.
Before plowing a truck into the Christmas market killing 12 people, the 24-year-old Anis Amri had reportedly sent a selfie and a chilling text message reading: “My brother, all is well, according to God’s will. I am now in a car, pray for me my brother, pray for me.”
Investigators had thought the recipient of these messages was a 40-year-old compatriot of Amri’s and arrested him in Berlin on Wednesday.
But a spokeswoman for the federal prosecution service, which handles terrorism cases, admitted on Thursday that the man detained was “not the suspected contact of Anis Amri.” 
“He has therefore been released from detention,” Frauke Koehler told reporters, pledging that “the investigation into further accomplices or possible people who knew... will continue at full speed.”
She also said that authorities considered authentic a video message released last Friday, in which Amri is seen swearing allegiance to the head of the Daesh group, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
Koehler said the pistol Amri used to fire at an Italian police officer before he himself was shot dead in Milan last Friday had the same .22 calibre as the bullet fired inside the lorry cabin.
Ballistic experts were still checking whether Amri used the same handgun in Milan and in Berlin, where he is thought to have shot dead the registered Polish driver of the truck, Lukasz Urban.
The spokeswoman added that the exact cause or time of death of Urban, who is due to be buried in Poland Friday, still could not be determined, but that he was killed “shortly before” the market attack.
The autopsy report was expected in early January, Koehler said, while denying media reports that his corpse bore stab wounds.
Koehler confirmed that the 40-ton truck came to a rest after 70-80 meters (230-260 feet) thanks to its automatic braking system that activates when impacts are detected, likely “preventing even worse consequences.”