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ISIS Officially Claims Responsibility For Berlin Christmas Market Terror Attack

REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke.

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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The Islamic State has officially claimed responsibility for the Berlin Christmas market terror attack Monday.

The claim of responsibility comes straight from the group’s Amaq News Agency, according to an analysis from the SITE Intelligence Group.

ISIS declared the attacker, who has yet to be captured by German authorities, is a “soldier of the Islamic State,” making this attack similar to the one in Nice, France, in July, for which ISIS also claimed responsibility. A Tunisian drove a truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in July, killing 86 people and injuring 434 others.

On Monday, a suspect intentionally crashed a truck through a Christmas market in Berlin, leaving 12 dead and 49 injured. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.

All Christmas markets in Berlin have now been closed, as of Tuesday. Authorities had detained one suspect, a Pakistani refugee, but eventually let him go, as there wasn’t enough evidence to link him to the attack.

German police are still examining forensic evidence from the truck in an effort to track down the real perpetrator.

The latest attack has bolstered Alternative for Germany, a political party on the right that is intensely critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s near open borders policy when it comes to refugees. A total of 890,000 refugees poured in Germany in 2015 alone.

“The milieu in which such acts can flourish has been negligently and systematically imported over the past year and a half,” AFD co-leader Frauke Petry said.

Germany is set to hold federal elections in 2017.

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