Nine dead as truck hits Berlin Christmas market in suspected attack

They only have to get lucky once and tonight ‘they’ got lucky with the one everybody was trying to stop. Somewhere in Europe a Christmas market was the target. Peace and Goodwill to all Men, Joy to the World, could not be left to a prosperous New Year. From the German edition of The Local. and The Telegraph

At least nine people have died and more than 50 were injured after a truck drove into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night. According to local police, the first indications pointed to a terrorist attack on the market,

9.42: Police are telling people to stay home and not to spread any rumours about the attack.

The attack was on a Christmas market next to the Ku’damm, arguably the most famous shopping mile in Germany, situated in the upmarket Charlottenburg district of west Berlin. 

It is also below one of the most famous sites in the city, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the spire of which was never repaired after being hit in a Second World War bombing raid. Photograph from the BBC

At 9.10pm police confirmed that nine people had been killed in the suspected attack. 

The fate of the driver of the truck was not immediately clear, but Bild newspaper said he was on the run. A co-driver in the lorry is dead, according to Germany’s N24 TV. The same channel is also confirming reports that a suspect has been arrested.According to a German journalist, Berlin police have arrested a suspect at Victory Column, a major tourist attraction in the city. Police have not officially confirmed this.