Blunders that let Berlin Christmas terror suspect go free: He was under surveillance for months, arrested and freed three times, and not deported because of a clerical error

Most wanted: Police today revealed they are hunting Anis Amri, 24, pictured, a refugee who came to Germany last year. His paperwork was found in truck's footwell. The driver is believed to be armed and dangerous.

A string of security blunders left a failed Tunisian asylum seeker free to carry out the Berlin Christmas market massacre, it was feared last night.

German security services face difficult questions after it emerged that Anis Amris, a lifelong criminal, should have been deported months ago.

The 24-year-old, who has a 100,000 euro reward on his head, was under the surveillance of German intelligence for several months following his arrival in the country in 2015.

He had been arrested three times this year and his asylum application was rejected, but deportation papers were never served and he disappeared.

The Tunisian radical was known to be a supporter of Islamic State and to have received weapons training. 

He also tried to recruit an accomplice for a terror plot – which the authorities knew about – but still remained at large.

He was under investigation for planning a 'serious act of violence against the state' and counter-terrorism officials had exchanged information about him last month.

Reports suggest intelligence services might have even lost track of Amri as recently as just a few weeks ago after he went underground. 

The potentially fatal mistakes heaped further shame on the German security services, who wasted several hours questioning an innocent Pakistani asylum seeker in the aftermath of the truck rampage, which killed 12 shoppers and wounded 48. 

German police are in a desperate race to detain Amri, described as being probably armed and ‘highly dangerous’ before any further terrorist attack.  

There were reports police had carried out raids on two addresses in Berlin last night but this was later denied by police.

Last night it emerged Amri spent four years in an Italian prison for acts of violence and vandalism inside a migrant centre where he was being kept following his arrival in Europe. The prison in Palermo, Sicily, is where mafia bosses and gangsters are locked up.

Tunisian security officials also revealed he was convicted in absentia for aggravated theft with violence in his home country.

A senior foreign German politician today blamed the atrocity on 'institutional political correctness', arguing that Amri would not have been free to act if police had enforced the law. 

Meanwhile a European arrest warrant issued for Amri reveals the fugitive has used at least six different aliases under three different nationalities. Photographs show how he has changed his appearance over the years.

Today his family, who remain in Tunisia, were questioned by local police as his siblings condemned acts of terrorism, saying Amri 'deserves every condemnation' if he is guilty of the massacre.  

Manhunt: The ISIS killer behind Germany's worst terror attack since 1980 on Monday night has been given an 18 hour head start after police bungled the probe - Amri's blood may have been in the cab and believe the driver is injured.

A European arrest warrant from Germany, indicates that Anis Amri (pictured) has at times used six different aliases and three different nationalities. German police were tracking him for months amid fears he was involved in an earlier terrorist plot - but lost him before the Berlin Christmas market massacre.

German authorities have revealed there is a 100,000 euro (£84,000) reward for information leading to his capture.

The Christmas market where the atrocity took place remained closed on Wednesday as the city reels from the terror attack.

A group of refugees from the Tempelhof emergency shelter were seen laying flowers near the site of the attack

CHANGING FACES OF PRIME SUSPECT ANIS AMRI

A European arrest warrant issued for Amri reveals the fugitive has used at least six different aliases under three different nationalities. Here, four photographs show how he has changed his appearance over the years:

Amri became Europe's most wanted man after his identity papers were found in the footwell of the lorry used in the atrocity.

Last night it emerged that Amri’s application for asylum was turned down last summer because he did not possess the correct papers.

But under a peculiarity of the German asylum system he was granted ‘toleration’ papers allowing him to stay temporarily, for unknown reasons. He was due to be deported before the end of the year.

The German authorities were in touch with their Tunisian counterparts to get him a passport so he could be sent home. But Tunisia reportedly said it had no record of him being a citizen. 

The country has now been accused of delaying his extradition as it emerged new ID papers only arrived in Germany yesterday, two days after the carnage. 

He was put on a danger list shortly after arriving in Germany in June last year, which meant authorities considered him prone to extreme violence. Yet just how much surveillance he was under remains unclear. 

The German authorities watched Amri for several months this year to try to determine whether he had planned a robbery to fund the purchase of automatic weapons for a possible attack with accomplices. But the covert surveillance operation ceased after the security services could not prove their suspicions, a judicial source said.

In July he was arrested for an unknown offence while travelling on a bus to Berlin, and was later charged with assault for a knife fight over drugs. In August he was arrested for possessing a fake Italian document, but again released.

He had contact with preachers who promoted jihad among young German men who converted to Islam. According to media reports, Amri lived for a time with a hate preacher in Dortmund who is under arrest for his involvement with IS.

He is also known to have attended hate sermons by Abu Walaa, now in custody after being arrested last month for radicalising young men. The so-called ‘faceless preacher’ delivered online video sermons with his back to the camera, often draped in a black hood and cloak. 

The preacher, who is believed to have three wives, had 25,000 Facebook followers and even offered his own app in 2014.

 Will the lorry killer strike again? Police and the security services are hunting the terrorist behind the Christmas market attack.

Mourners placed flowers and candles at the site while German flags flew at half-mast and Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate was lit in the national colours in honour of the victims.

Candles, flowers ans wreathes have been laid near the spot where the lorry was driven in to crowds of people at the market.

 

Link? A Facebook profile in his name shows 'likes' linked to Tunisian terror group Ansar al-Sharia, a Tunisian group with followers linked to extremists who murdered 22 at Tunis' Bardo Museum in March 2015 and then 39 tourists at a beach resort in Sousse.

WHO IS ANIS AMRIS?

Terror suspect Anis Amri, 24, was born in Tataouine, Tunisia in 1992.

The desert town, close to the Libyan border, is a well-known ISIS stronghold. 

He is understood to have racked up a string of criminal offences - including violent car robberies - before illegally entering Europe with a group of Syrian refugees.

A European arrest warrant issued for Amri indicates he uses six different aliases and has three different nationalities.

Today Amri's father claimed his son left Tunisia seven years ago and first settled in Italy, where he reportedly spent four years in jail for burning down a school.

German records show he arrived in Italy in 2012 and entered Germany last year.

Since his arrival in Germany, Amri, who has a €100,000 reward on his head, has been arrested at least three times.

In June German authorities reportedly tried to deport Amri after learning he was planning a 'serious act of violent subversion,' a source told the Washington Post.

  

Amri is known to have attended German hate sermons by Abu Walaa, an ISIS recruiter who is in jail on remand after being arrested last month for radicalising young men for the terror group.

Apparently Walaa wanted to send him to Syria. But he did not want to, preferring instead to formulate plans for an attack in Germany.  

A Facebook profile in his name shows 'likes' linked to Tunisian terror group Ansar al-Sharia, a Tunisian group with followers linked to extremists who murdered 22 at Tunis' Bardo Museum in March 2015 and then 39 tourists at a beach resort in Sousse. 

As recently as last month, German authorities raised concerns over Amri's alleged links to Islamic extremists. 

  

Apparently Walaa had wanted to send Amri to Syria. But he did not want to, preferring instead to formulate plans for an attack in Germany.

Another investigator said: 'Supposedly the evidence was not strong enough to arrest him.' 

A Facebook profile in his name shows 'likes' linked to Tunisian terror group Ansar al-Sharia, a Tunisian group with followers linked to extremists who murdered 22 at Tunis' Bardo Museum in March 2015 and then 39 tourists at a beach resort in Sousse.  

He was in contact with Islamist militants in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and was known to German security agencies, the state's Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger said. 

As the hunt for Europe's most wanted man continues, it was revealed that: 

• ID belonging to Anis Amri, 21, a Tunisian asylum seeker, is found in the footwell. The is blood in the cab and the drive may be seriously injured 
• Police get 500 calls and insist they could arrest killer truck driver today despite bungling initial investigation. They say DNA and GPS linked to the lorry could lead to breakthrough
• Twelve people are dead and 48 are injured - 16 seriously - after a lorry is driven at 40mph through crowds at the famous Breitscheidplatz Square Christmas market at 7pm on Monday night.
• Hours earlier the lorry was hijacked from a Polish driver taking steel to Berlin from Italy. Lukasz Urban, a father of one, was found shot dead in its cab. It is not yet clear when he died.
• Police arrested Naved B based on a witness description who say him run a red light but later released their sole suspect because of a lack of evidence.
• Angela Merkel faces storm over her asylum policy and admits: 'It would be particularly hard to bear for all of us if it was confirmed that a person committed this crime who asked for protection and asylum in Germany' 

This afternoon, police raided a migrant shelter in the town of Emmerich, western Germany, where he is believed to have lived. 

Amri, who was born in the desert town of Tataouine in 1992 – a well-known ISIS stronghold close to the Libyan border - is believed to have entered Europe through Italy with Syrian refugees.

It remains unclear when Amri left his native Tunisia for Europe.  

His father told Tunisia's Mosaique FM radio that his son left his homeland about seven years ago, spent four years in a prison in Italy after being accused in a fire at a school there then moved to Germany more than a year ago. Official records suggest he arrived in Italy in 2012.

Citing security officials, Mosaique FM said Amri had been convicted in absentia for aggravated theft with violence in Tunisia and sentenced to five years in prison. No dates were given.

Tunisian anti-terror police interrogated Amri's relatives Wednesday in the central Tunisian town of Oueslatia. It is not known how many family members were present.  

Previous: Amri, who was born in the desert town of Tataouine in 1992 – a well-known ISIS stronghold close to the Libyan border - was apparently recently arrested for GBH but vanished before he could be charged. He was also found with a fake passport.

A wanted notice for a Tunisian suspect in the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin says the man should be considered armed and dangerous.

Police patrol a Christmas market in Berlin which has reopened following the terror attack on a separate attraction on Monday night.

Security has been tightened across Berlin since the attack, but another Christmas market reopened today under heavy security.

Floral tributes have been left at the scene in the wake of the terror atrocity in Berlin. Police are hunting a Tunisian suspect.

Grief: Flowers and candles defy the terrorists as Germany looks for hope after yet another terrible terror attack.

Christmas shoppers are out again in the streets in the German capital, and Berlin mayor Michael Mueller said it was 'good to see that Berliners aren't being intimidated'. Visitors are pictured sitting around an open fire at the Christmas market in Alexanderplatz.

Wanted: Amri was living in Berlin but a police operation is now underway in North Rhine-Westphalia - the industrial region of Germany containing Cologne, Dortmund and Bonn

TUNISIA: THE CRUCIBLE OF ISLAMIC TERROR ATTACKS

Once Tunisia was renowned for its sunbaked beaches – now it is notorious for being a crucible of Islamist terror.

The emergence of Anis Amri as the prime suspect for the Berlin Christmas market massacre would have come as little surprise to anti-terror chiefs across Europe.

The Berlin bloodbath is just the latest in a string of attacks that highlight the role of young Tunisian-born men in orchestrating Islamist terror attacks.

On his Facebook account, Amri has expressed his support for a notorious jihadist group in his homeland.

Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia is a radical Islamist group numbering about 1,000 people with some linked to the 2015 Sousse beach massacre in the North African country, in which 30 British tourists were killed.

The group is ideologically guided by two preachers with British links: one is Abu Qatada, who was deported to Jordon in 2013 after first being arrested on suspicion of terrorism in 2001.

The other is a militant Egyptian preacher called Hani al-Sibai, who the Mail exposed last year as living on benefits in the UK.

The Berlin attack bears all the hallmarks of the Nice truck attack in July, when Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel killed 86 people during Bastille Day celebrations.

Tunisians form the largest contingent of fighters with IS in Syria and Iraq by far, numbering up to 7,000. Many occupy senior positions, including a suspect who lived in Belgium and travelled to Syria who is thought to be the chief planner of the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Osama Atar is suspected to be the ‘Abu Ahmad’ who some of the Paris attackers were in contact with, though Atar has refuted the charge online.

One of his brothers said Amri deserves 'every condemnation' if he is guilty of the Christmas market massacre. 

Abdelkader Amri said the family 'rejects terrorism' and suggested they would cut ties with fugitive brother Anis Amri if he was found to be behind the atrocity.

He said: 'When I saw the picture of my brother in the media, I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm in shock, and can't believe it's him who committed this crime.'

But, he added, 'if he's guilty, he deserves every condemnation. We reject terrorism and terrorists - we have no dealings with terrorists'. 

Speaking from his home in Tunisia, another brother, Walid, 30, revealed he had not heard from Anis in two weeks.

Truck driver Walid said Anis first left Tunisia for Italy in 2011 but 'always wanted to go on to Germany to find work. Three or for years later he managed that.'

His brother added: 'He told me often that he couldn't find a flat In Germany and was sleeping here and there. But during our last contact two weeks ago he said everything was good with him. 

'He comes from a family of nine children and always sent money back to us. I don't know where it came from. We live as a struggling family, we live a totally normal life.'

He said he last communicated with his brother over Facebook two weeks ago and does not have a mobile number for the fugitive.

'We are as shocked as everyone else in the world,' he added. 'We have no contact to Isis. I only learned my brother was being hunted over Facebook. I am affected the same as everyone else by this news.' 

Sister Najoua said: 'I was the first to see his picture and it came as a total shock. I can't believe my brother could do such a thing.

'He never made us feel there was anything wrong. We were in touch through Facebook and he was always smiling and cheerful.' 

Despite an unfolding international manhunt the first pictures released of Amri in Germany showed his eyes deliberately covered, thought to be because of strict privacy laws there. 

Police are believed to have found blood in the truck's cab and now assume that the suspect may be badly injured. 

Squads of officers have been to every hospital in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg. They also arrested another unnamed suspect in connection with the terror attack but have since ruled him out. 

Amri was living in Berlin but a police operation is now underway in North Rhine-Westphalia - the industrial region of Germany containing Cologne, Dortmund and Bonn. His ID was issued on the town of Kleve close to the border with the Netherlands and Belgium.

The atrocity could be a political disaster for Mrs Merkel, who will seek a historic fourth term as chancellor next year. She has staked much of her political capital on opening Germany's doors to refugees.     

HE'S ON THE RUN - BUT PROTECTING HIS PRIVACY PREVENTS HIS PHOTO BEING SHOWN IN GERMANY

Despite an unfolding international manhunt the first pictures of Amri released in Germany have his eyes deliberately covered, thought to be because of strict privacy laws there. MailOnline has uncovered unblurred images.

By Julian Robinson 

An international manhunt is underway for the new prime suspect in the Berlin Christmas market massacre - but in pictures released in Germany, the Tunisian's eyes are, bizarrely, obscured with a black bar.

The 21-year-old's ID was found under the seat in the lorry used to murder 12 people and maim dozens of others.

Yet strict privacy rules in Germany mean newspapers in the country are referring to him only by his first name and the first initial of his last surname - despite a public appeal aimed at tracking him down.

Pictures of Anis A, who if he is the driver police believe is probably armed, 'highly dangerous' and a member of a 'large' Islamic organisation, are also partially obscured, blocking out his eyes.

Media used the same naming method for Naved Baluch yesterday when the Pakistani was held in the aftermath of the atrocity.

The 24-year-old, who arrived in Germany a year ago, was blamed for Monday night's carnage but released 18 hours later.

In line with the country's privacy laws, German authorities will not fully name anyone they arrest over the atrocity.

It is not the first example of full names being withheld during criminal cases in the country.

Last month, only first names were released as two Syrian men, Kamel T.H.J. and Azad R., were charged with membership in a terrorist organisation on allegations they fought with a militant Islamist groups in their homeland.

A month earlier, a similar tactic was employed on the arrest of suspected ISIS airport bomb plotter Jaber al-Bakr.

The 22-year-old, had built 'a virtual bomb-making lab' in a flat in Chemnitz and was thought to have planned an attack against either one of Berlin's two airports or a transport hub in his home state of Saxony, security sources said.

He later hanged himself in his prison cell - despite being on suicide watch.

Some newspapers even keep to the rule when referring to Austrian monster Josef Fritzl, who repeatedly raped his daughter, Elisabeth, and fathered seven children by her while keeping her imprisoned in his cellar for 24 years. 

This afternoon, a wanted notice revealed the Berlin attack suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.

The notice, a European arrest warrant from Germany, indicates he has at times used six different aliases and three different nationalities.

It names Anis Amri as having Tunisian citizenship, born in the town of Ghaza. But it lists multiple aliases, many of them variants on his name, and Egyptian and Lebanese citizenship as well.  

Amri's home town in north Africa is famous for being the inspiration for Luke Skywalker's home planet in Star Wars but has become an ISIS stronghold for jihadis attacking targets in nearby Libya.

It came as it was revealed the Pakistani asylum seeker held in the aftermath of the Berlin Christmas market massacre was held because he accidentally jumped a red light.

Naved Baluch, 24, who arrived in Germany a year ago, was seized and blamed for Monday night's carnage after witnesses saw him commit a traffic offence a mile away.

Detectives, who flew him out of Berlin and across the country to Karlsruhe to question him, took 18 hours to realise Mr Baluch, who had no blood on his clothes and no injuries, did not drive a lorry through crowds to kill 12 and wound 48 more.

It was only then the security services warned the public that the real ISIS killer was on the run with a gun. Today Berlin is in mourning as police warned 'vigilance' is needed because a second attack could be imminent.

Despite bungling the initial investigation police insist DNA, GPS and mobile phone data tied to the lorry used to murder and maim could lead to an arrest today. 

A BBC journalist made the red light claims on the Today programme this morning. 

'He was the wrong man,' said a source in the German security services. 'The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause further damage.'  

Berlin detectives have revealed that have had 500 calls from the public since Monday night's massacre.

Andre Schulz, chairman of the Federal Association of German Criminal Detectives, said on TV Tuesday night: 'I'm fairly confident that we can present a new suspect maybe tomorrow or in the near future', adding that his colleagues had assembled 'good evidence' and that there were 'very many starting points.

'I have great faith in the police in Berlin and the Federal Criminal Office.'

Schulz claims that the murder squad investigating the first mass terrorist killing in Germany have 500 clues to work from. 

Probe: Naved B, a Pakistani asylum seeker, had been detained in the immediate aftermath of the carnage following a tip-off from witnesses who saw him jump a light (pictured with a blanket over his head). However he was released last night due to a lack of evidence.

Ring of steel: Armed police continue to guard the Christmas market where 12 were killed on Monday night.

Carnage:  The area is cordoned off as a crime scene and debris left by the careering lorry remains sprayed across the pavement.

Prayers: Berliners cry and pray at the piles of flowers and candles left to remember the 12 dead and up to 48 injured after being hit by a careering lorry

WAS PETTY CRIMINAL RADICALISED IN A JAIL CELL?

By Mario Ledwith, Emily Kent Smith and Emine Sinmaz for the Daily Mail

As a teenager growing up in a poor part of Tunisia, Anis Amri spent his evenings chasing girls, drinking alcohol and indulging in petty thieving.

He had apparently grown apart from the Muslim faith that played a central role in his childhood.

But a scrape with the law after making the perilous journey to Europe aged 18 with a group of Syrian refugees saw him embrace religion once again.

Relatives yesterday revealed how Europe’s most wanted man began praying in a possible act of desperation as he spent four years in Italy largely locked up in jail.

It was then that his journey into the dark world of extremism is thought to have begun, which led to him fraternising with notorious hate preachers.

One of nine children, he grew up on an estate in the small town of Oueslatia in northern Tunisia’s Kairouan province.

Speaking from Tunisia yesterday, the fugitive’s brother Walid insisted that his sibling was a ‘calm and nice’ man when he left for Europe in 2011 in search of work. But his behaviour apparently changed after he was jailed in Italy shortly after arriving the following year.

‘We went to mosque when we were younger and then Anis started to drink alcohol when he was a teenager and he had girlfriends,’ Walid said.

‘My brother changed after he was released from the Italian prison. Before he was drinking and he had a girlfriend, but after he was released his life became secret. He told me when he was in Italy that he was praying again.’

His lengthy spell in an Italian jail housing mafia bosses and gangsters was for smashing up a migrant centre.

Amri, now 24, crossed the border into Germany in July 2015 following his release, and tried to maintain a low profile. He was known to German security officials, who were yesterday forced to reveal how a series of errors allowed him to slip through the net. He was arrested in Germany three times this year alone, local media reported. And despite being refused asylum in July, he was given temporary permission to stay until the end of the year.

It is thought the hold-up was because Tunisian officials denied he was a citizen there. Documents proving that he was Tunisian only arrived in Germany yesterday.

Amri went by at least six different names and claimed to be from both Egypt and Lebanon. One of his many German homes was an asylum centre in Emmerich, North Rhine-Westphalia, which was yesterday raided by police.

His Facebook profile revealed links to Ansar al-Sharia, a Tunisian terror group connected to the 2015 Sousse beach attack that left 38 dead. He is also believed to have known Abu Walaa, an Iraqi fanatic known as ‘the faceless preacher’ as he has delivered video sermons with his back to the camera.

Relatives said they had not heard from Amri for 15 days.

The probe centres on the GPS system of the truck may be linked to the mobile telephone of the killer. Fingerprint evidence was also garnered from the cab of the wrecked lorry.

Interior minister Thomas de Maziere this morning shared the optimism of Schulz, claiming that there has been 'real progress' made in the hunt. 

Amid claims that police had no idea who they were looking for, prosecutor Holger Münch warned of another significant attack. And interior minister Klaus Bouillon declared Germany was 'in a state of war'.

Within hours of the release of Mr Baluch last night, Islamic State issued its first claim of responsibility for the lorry attack on festive shoppers and revellers.

In a statement, the group's AMAQ news agency said: 'The executor of the operation in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic state and he executed the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition countries.'

According to Michael Behrendt, crime reporter for Die Welt, Berlin detectives were absolutely at a loss over the attacks. 'The police have no idea who they are looking for,' he said. 'They have no weapon, no DNA traces.' He said officers were studying CCTV footage but that 'until they have any concrete information, it's still completely unclear what they're dealing with'.

As her country began to come to terms with one of its worst ever terror attacks, Mrs Merkel, clad in black, laid a single white rose at the spot where the horror unfolded.

The killer hijacked a juggernaut laden with steel to carry out the attack. The lorry's computer system recorded a series of stop-start manoeuvres 'as if someone was learning how to drive'.

Manhunt: Police are hunting for Europe's most wanted man today after they wasted 18 hours questioning the wrong man.

Police stand by a currywurst stand at the scene in the Christmas market where the attacks took place.

Residents gathered at the Brandenburg Gate last night, which was lit in the colours of the German flag in tribute to the dead.

Remembrance: Lit by candlelight, Mrs Merkel signs a book of condolences at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church last night.

A woman formed a cross with candles on the pavement near to where the lorry ploughed into the Christmas market, killing 12.

The site of the terror attack in the centre of Berlin was last night transformed into a shrine to those who lost their lives.

Horror 2016: These are all the terror attacks carried out on German soil in the past year, claiming the lives of 22 people

At 7pm local time it drove around the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz Square several times, as if to build up speed, before switching off its headlights and charging at 40mph into a crowd.

Victims including children were sent flying like bowling pins and crushed under the 25-ton HGV's wheels. The driver jumped from the cab and raced from the bloodbath.

Berliners continue to flock to the scene where people were killed.

Already dead in the cabin was the lorry's driver, Lukasz Urban, a 37-year-old father of one from Poland who had been transporting steel beams to Germany from Italy.

He was found beaten and shot with a single bullet fired from a pistol. His cousin and boss said it was 'really clear that he was fighting for his life'. The gun has not been found.

The attacker was followed by a witness for a mile and a half – updating police on his mobile phone – but who is then said to have lost him in the city's Tiergarten park.

On the basis of the description of the attacker given to police by the witness, officers pounced on Mr Baluch near the park's victory column.

Police celebrated the swift arrest, with spokesman Winfrid Wenzel hailing the 'civic courage' of the witness. But relief later turned to helplessness as the authorities admitted they had been wasting their time with the Pakistani, whose DNA was not in the cab.

Mr Baluch arrived in Germany last New Year's Eve via the Balkans. He was living in a hangar at the old Tempelhof airport in the middle of Berlin, which police commandos raided at 4am yesterday in search of clues and accomplices.

So far, six of the dead have been identified, all German nationals.

One of the other fatalities could be Italian Fabrizia Lorenzo, 31, a transport specialist whose mobile phone and travel pass were found in the crash zone.

Of the wounded, 25 are still in hospital – 18 of whom have 'very serious injuries'.

 Twenty-four others have been discharged. The rest were walking wounded. Last night thousands of mourners including people caught up in the attack held a candlelit vigil at the scene.

Overhead: This is a clear view of the path the lorry took through the now-destroyed Christmas market in central Berlin

Close up: The shattered glass on the windshield of a truck shown after it ploughed through the Christmas market. A wreath and part of a market stall was embedded inside

Carnage: The lorry used to kill a dozen people in Berlin on Monday night was towed away from the scene on Tuesday

Respect: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) lays white roses at the blood-stained scene in Berlin on Tuesday

Brutal: White powder used to soak up blood left  by the dead - one witness described a 'rivers of blood' running through the market .

Sara Dobler, 26, from Port Talbot in Wales, witnessed the attack, saying: 'One guy was on the floor, lying there trying to get up, but his head injury was quite severe so I just held his hand, told him everything is going to be OK.

'I don't know how he is now but I hope he's OK. It was as if we were in a horror film.

'We tried to get people, mainly families with children, to move away from the area because we didn't want them to see what we saw. It is traumatising.'

German attorney general Peter Frank said it was possible more than one person might be involved.

The atrocity could be a political disaster for Mrs Merkel, who will seek a historic fourth term as chancellor next year. She has staked much of her political capital on opening Germany's doors to refugees.

Speaking yesterday morning, before the suspect had been ruled out, she said that she was 'shocked, shaken and saddened' adding: 'It would be particularly difficult for us to learn that a human being committed this deed who came to Germany to ask for refuge and asylum.'

Horst Seehofer, the minister-president of Bavaria and one of the harshest critics of her open-door asylum policy, caused a storm Tuesday night when he said on TV: 'We owe it to the victims, to those affected and to the whole population to rethink our immigration and security policy and to change it.' 

TUNISIAN TRUCK SUSPECT'S DEPORTATION PAPERS ARRIVE TWO DAYS AFTER BERLIN TERROR ATTACK 

A German regional minister Wednesday accused Tunisia of delaying for months the extradition of a man now wanted over the Berlin market attack, saying required papers had only just arrived, two days after the carnage.

The asylum request launched by the man hunted by police, identified by media as Anis Amri had been rejected in June, said Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

'But the man could not be deported because he had no valid travel documents,' said Jaeger.

'The procedure for drawing up a document in lieu of a passport was initiated in August, but Tunisia disputed the fact that this person was one of its nationals,' he added.

German security sources blamed Tunisian officials for failing to supply documents to allow the deportation of Anis Amri, pictured

Amri is the chief suspect in Monday's fatal truck attack in Berlin and a €100,000 reward has been offered for his immediate capture

Only after a months-long wait - during which German security services investigated the man for a suspected attack plan - Tunisia came through with the papers, Jaeger told a press conference.

Finally, the new Tunisian travel document 'arrived today' in Germany, two days after the Berlin Christmas market attack.

Germany has repeatedly accused Tunisia and other Maghreb states of stalling on the repatriation of its nationals from Germany.

The subject sparked tensions after the mass sexual assaults in the German city of Cologne, blamed largely on North African and Arab men, last New Year's Eve.

Germany this year moved to declare Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco as so-called safe countries of origin, to raise the bar for asylum requests.

But the bill has been stuck in the upper house for months over human rights concerns in those nations.

There were fresh questions yesterday over whether more could have been done to prevent the attacks.

Europol, the European Union police intelligence agency, warned earlier this month that lone attackers or small cells were plotting mayhem using vehicles as weapons.

Europol also pointed to reports that German authorities were aware of hundreds of attempts by jihadists to recruit refugees.

In November the United States warned its citizens it had 'credible information' that the Christmas markets were a target, while in the UK, the Foreign Office revised its travel advice earlier this month saying there was a 'high threat from terrorism' in Germany.

Islamic State militants had even published a terror manual last month containing instructions on using a lorry to inflict maximum carnage.

Their chilling Rumiyah magazine said using a vehicle was one of the most successful ways of 'harvesting' large numbers of non-believers.

Yet in Berlin, no concrete bollards were in place to protect revellers, with the authorities saying it would be wrong to turn the famous markets into 'fortresses'.

The victims are being cared for in a number of hospitals in the capital. René Köchel, 52, is in the Auguste-Viktoria-Clinic where he is being treated for a leg injury.

'I remember buying a mulled wine for a colleague when truck was practically upon us,' he said. 'I remember seeing the wheel of the lorry and me an my female friend managed to jump to one side. The wine stall was demolished and we managed to scrabble away from the wreckage.'

Lukasz Urban (pictured), a 37-year-old father-of-one, was killed in the carnage that saw a 25-tonne truck career through Berlin's Breitscheidplatz Square, which killed 12 and injured dozens more.

Fabrizia Lorenzo, pictured, 30, is a transport specialist working in Berlin but her cousin said they had not heard from her since last night 

Terror attack chain of events: The polish lorry was hijacked when it arrived in Berlin and hours later was driven through Christmas market crowds. The main suspect was pursued on foot and arrested - but it appears he is the wrong man. Police also raided the hangar he lives in with other asylum seekers at the Tempelhof airport.

A young student from Spain survived the terror with multiple broken bones but his life intact.

Iñaki E. from Bilbao was at the Christmas market with three female friends when the truck-terrorist struck. Iñaki, 21, an Erasmus student, was walking with his pals when the lorry hit the shoppers and the flimsy Christmas huts.

He remembers the lorry shedding a tyre before he was struck. The Berlin School of Economics and Law student suffered multiple fractures - a broken leg in three places and broken bones in his foot.

He underwent emergency surgery Monday night. He was due to travel home on Thursday but is confined to hospital. His parents have travelled to Berlin to be at his bedside as he recovers.

His mum told Germany's BILD newspaper: 'Mentally he is coping well. He said when he lay on the ground waiting for the rescuers he had not really taken in everything that was happening.

'The girls took it much worse than him even though they were not hurt. We have had to cancel his flight home, we do not know how long he will be here.'

The Israeli ambassador to Germany, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, said that an Israeli was wounded in the attack, a man in his middle 60's who suffered a serious hip injury and needed emergency surgery.

But there is no sign of his wife who was with him and he hopes she is in a hospital somewhere in Berlin.

'But we cannot rule out that she might be among the dead,' he said. 

EYEWITNESSES REVEAL THEIR TERROR FACING DEATH

Narrow escape: Tourist John Thompson and his daughter Annabelle, 11, at the market on Monday night

A British family caught up in the terror attack have told how they narrowly escaped being hit by the truck.

John Thompson and his 11-year-old daughter had posed for a picture at the Christmas market just minutes before it was devastated by the hijacked lorry.

Last night the 59-year-old businessman revealed how he, his wife Nicola, 48, and their daughter Annabelle were among scores of Britons who witnessed the mass murder – and had to run for their lives.

The family, from Lepton in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, were on a three-day break in the German capital when they decided to visit the market.

Mr Thompson said they survived only because they stopped for something to eat.

'We were very, very close,' he said. 'We were contemplating having food elsewhere and were walking towards that end of the market when Nicola saw a BBQ stall … and we decided to stop for some food.

'All of a sudden there was this almighty commotion and this truck was hurtling towards us. I saw the front end of it. We didn't hang around and just ran for our lives.

'My daughter thought it was fireworks but everyone else was running away from the scene and we just followed them to the church steps at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church … Annabelle was the most shaken up by it. She thought it was fireworks. But today is another day and we have to carry on.'

His wife added: 'You never think something like this can happen to you, you can't believe it, but it did. I just said to John, 'let's stop and have some food' … then there was this lorry rumbling through all the stalls. There was lots of shouting and people running. It was very frightening. It's terrible what has happened to those poor people.'

Another British tourist, Sara Dobler, recalled how she held a man's hand as he lay on the floor with severe head injuries. She described the scene as 'like something from a horror film'.

The 26-year-old, from South Wales, said she did not know what happened to the man, but said the experience had 'traumatised' her.

Traumatised: Sara Dobler and her partner Rhys Meredith said they were 'traumatised' by what they had witnessed at the market 

'He was on the floor … he was lying there, he was trying to get up but his head injury was quite severe. So I just held his hand and told him everything was going to be OK,' she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

'Obviously there were people lying on the floor. We weren't sure if it was red wine or blood.'

Her boyfriend Rhys Meredith, 27, from Cardiff, had just bought food at the Breitscheidplatz market with her when the lorry smashed into the stalls, missing the couple by about 10ft. 'There was clearly no attempt to try and slow down – we've seen stalls obliterated into nothing,' Mr Meredith said.

He described the 'absolutely horrific' scene as he tried to push stalls off people who were trapped underneath. 'It's just amazing how a peaceful, festive, happy atmosphere just changed instantly and you've just got this scene of utter devastation,' he told BBC News.

US student Luke Theis saw 'two rivers of blood' following the attack. He and his girlfriend Lara Colombo, 22, were on their way to the market when they heard sirens and saw people running frantically away.

Massacre: Australian tourist Trisha O'Neill, pictured, told of seeing 'blood and bodies everywhere' after he mounted a curb and deliberately drove into crowds of people .

'It was carnage everywhere,' he said. 'There was blood all over the floor … Nobody was really helping anybody. People were running. It was like every man for themselves. It was dusty and chaotic … two rivers of blood going down the floor.'

Mr Theis, from Washington, added: 'It's unsettling to think that you are so close to dying. One minute you are alive and enjoying the Christmas market and then you are dead and your family has to spend Christmas without you.'

Another witness, Jan Hollitzer, 36, said he heard screams as the truck crashed through, but that the market was silent in the aftermath.

Mr Hollitzer, deputy editor of local news outlet Berliner Morgenpost, said: 'First, I heard a noise, then he destroyed the booths on the market and we heard some screams, and then the truck came out of the market on the left side.' He said he saw destroyed stalls, broken glass and tables, and injured people lying on the ground, adding: 'There were some people under the truck and it was really scary, really terrifying.'

Australian student Trisha O'Neill said she saw 'blood and bodies everywhere'. 'All of a sudden there was a big boom and the people in front of me jumped on top of me,' she told ABC.

'I just saw this huge black truck speeding through the markets crushing so many people and then all the lights went out and everything was destroyed. I could hear screaming and we all froze. Then suddenly people started to move and lift all the wreckage off people, trying to help whoever was there.'

Miss O'Neill, who was celebrating her final classes in Germany before heading home, said she saw several people, from children to the elderly, lying on the floor motionless.

Mike Fox, from Birmingham, and his partner were just a 'few metres' from the lorry as it smashed its way through the market. 'My girlfriend saw a child under the truck,' he said. 'I saw about 15 or 20 people injured, some were moving and some weren't. Others had blood on them. I saw one guy being dragged away with blood on his face.'

Vivian Hilse, 15, a school pupil from Berlin, was at the market with her friend. She said: 'We tried to run away but my best friend fell over and broke his leg … I was really afraid. We got in the ambulance.

'It was only when we were in the hospital that we knew what had happened. It is awful, you don't feel safe in your own city.'

Lana Sefovac, a Bosnian who lives in Berlin, was at the entrance of the market at the time of the attack.

Slaughter: American tourist Luke Theis, pictured with his girlfriend Lara Colombo, saw 'two rivers of blood going down the floor' after the attacker mounted a curb and deliberately drove into crowds of people

She told N1 Television in Bosnia: 'We were at a stall because we wanted to buy some food. We were lucky we were hungry because if we had been on the promenade we would have been victims.

'I was standing in front of the stall, my father was in front of me, my mum was behind. I heard a very, very noisy sound and when I turned towards it, the first thing I saw was wood flying all around because he literally smashed the first wooden booth by driving very fast.

'He was driving directly toward us, directly into us, but then he made a turn because he did not want to drive into (our) booth but where people were. He wanted to run people over.' 

Belgian woman Carima Douch, who was working at the Zaventem airport in Brussels when the suicide bombings happened in March, told of yet another lucky escape.

She told Dutch daily De Telegraaf daily after witnessing the Berlin attack: 'It's very difficult. You feel totally powerless. And I am speechless. Everything comes back again. It is unbelievable that it is happening all over again.'

Her friend, Carima Akel-Freie, a personal assistant from Leuven, said: 'We thought it would be fun to go to the Christmas market. We were going to stay there, but a group wanted to leave to go and get a drink.

'I'm really happy that we decided to go with them. It probably saved our lives. Five minutes later the attack happened.'

Dutch photographer Roos Koman was visiting the market with her boyfriend Stefan, having made the trip specially to Berlin to see it. Just half an hour before the truck hit, they were enjoying the Christmas market and had gone back to their hotel just 50 metres away. 

Another British tourist Emma Rushton remembered the lorry ploughing into a Christmas market in Berlin at '40mph'.

Ms Rushton, from Rugby, Warwickshire, was out in the city for the first time when the vehicle sped through the crowd.

The Scout Association worker saw the truck tearing through the market, bringing down lights and crashing into shoppers, before coming to a halt outside Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church.

She told Sky News : 'We were about eight feet away from where it happened and we saw it all happen and I'm really thankful that we had not left the Christmas market two minutes earlier.

'I'm running on adrenaline at the moment so everything is coming out quite fast. 

The front of the lorry which crashed through the Berlin Christmas market on Monday night

'We arrived at the market around lunch time today. We had never been to Berlin before and it was our first holiday there.

'We decided to wander down to the Christmas market and partake in some of the mulled win that was being served as well as looking for some offers.

'We were sat and were drinking and luckily I broke my leg a few years ago, which means I have to sit down for a lot longer than most people would normally have to.

'When one of my friends said, 'let's go', I replied with 'give me two minutes' and that was when we heard a very loud bang and saw the Christmas lights to our left being pulled down.'