German police were forced to release a Pakistani national on Tuesday and admit they nabbed the wrong man after Monday’s terror attack in Berlin.
A man identified as Naved B. was freed from police custody on Tuesday due to insufficient evidence linking him to a terror attack that killed 12 and injured 49 others. A suspect who used a truck to barrel through a Christmas market with his lights off has has been on the run for nearly 24 hours.
“We have the wrong man, and thus a new situation,” police said in a statement, Welt reported Tuesday.
“The capital’s preparedness police and the special forces have been informed.”
German Chancellor Merkel said she was “horrified, shaken and deeply saddened” in her first statement after the attacks.
“I know that 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. This would be particularly repugnant in the face of the many many Germans who have dedicated themselves day after day to helping refugees, and in the face of the many people who actually need our protection and try to integrate into our country,” Ms. Merkel said, the Guardian reported.
SEE ALSO: Berlin police say they’re not clear whether man detained is driver of fatal attack
Ms. Merkel also spoke with leaders of France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden after the attack.
The U.N. Security Council then issued a statement condemning the “barbaric and cowardly” killing.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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