A truck has ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital, killing 12 people and injuring up to 50, in what police now say is a suspected terrorist attack.
The truck, pictured, was loaded with steel beams and veered into the market - at Breitscheidplatz, close to Berlin's Kurfuerstendamm - at one of its busiest times. Photo: AFP
They have arrested the suspected driver and are investigating whether the truck was hijacked from a construction site in neighbouring Poland.
The incident occurred at Breitscheidplatz, close to the Kurfuerstendamm, the main shopping street in Berlin's west.
The truck, which had Polish licence plates, mounted the footpath and ploughed into stalls next to a church about 8.15pm Monday local time (8.15am Tuesday NZT)
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Police said a passenger, who was Polish, was found dead in the truck after the crash.
The truck's Polish owner, Ariel Zurawski, said his cousin had been driving to Berlin but he could not imagine him being responsible for the crash.
He had not been able to reach his cousin since 4pm on Monday (4am Tuesday NZT).
The suspected driver, who tried to flee, was arrested about 2km away from the crash site, and is in custody.
Security sources cited by German news agency DPA said the driver of the truck was an asylum seeker from Afghanistan or Pakistan, who had arrived in Germany in February.
Daily newspaper Tagesspiegel said he was known to the police for minor crimes, but not terror links.
'Suspected terror attack'
Police in Berlin said on Twitter that investigators were treating the crash as a deliberate act.
"All police measures related to the suspected terrorist attack at Breitscheidplatz are progressing at full steam and with the necessary diligence."
German politicians had avoided branding the bloodshed a terror attack, as many details remained unverified or unclear, but Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD TV "there are many things pointing to one".
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been briefed by the interior minister and the mayor of Berlin, her spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted.
"We are in mourning for the dead and hope that the many injured can get help," he added.
Video footage from the scene showed stalls knocked over and people lying injured on the ground. Police cars and ambulances converged on the scene.
According to DPA, police believed the vehicle drove 50-80m through the market area.
The truck careered into the market at what would have been one of its most crowded times, with adults and children gathering in the traditional cluster of wooden stalls selling food and Christmas goods.
A witness, Emma Rushton, said the truck "ploughed through" the market and that people had been crushed.
"I heard a big noise and then I moved on the Christmas market and saw much chaos... many injured people," Jan Hollitzer, deputy editor in chief of Berliner Morgenpost, told CNN. "It was really traumatic."
German President Joachim Gauck said in a statement that it was an "awful evening for Berlin and for our country".
The White House condemned what it called an apparent terrorist attack.
France on alert
A series of small-scale attacks by Islamist militants alarmed Germany earlier this year.
Today's truck crash comes five months after an attack in the French city of Nice when a 19-tonne truck was driven along the beach front, mowing down people who had gathered to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day.
The attack, which was claimed by Islamic State, killed 86 people. Police shot dead the driver, Tunisian-born Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, at the scene.
France said today it would increase security at Christmas markets across the country immediately.
The German truck incident occurred on the same day the Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed in a gun attack by a police officer, in Ankara.
- BBC / Reuters / RNZ
An officer inspects the truck at the scene at Breitscheidplatz Photo: AFP
An aerial view of the truck, which crashed into the crowd at the market Photo: Supplied / Periscope / Wicky Costello
A police officer stands guard after the crash Photo: AFP