2016 Berlin truck attack

2016 truck attack in Berlin, Germany 2016 Berlin truck attackAftermath of the attackBreitscheidplatz2016 Berlin truck attack (Berlin)Show map of Berlin2016 Berlin truck attack (Germany)Show map of GermanyLocation52°30′18″N 013°20′08″E / 52.50500°N 13.33556°E / 52.50500; 13.33556Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, GermanyDate19 December 2016&#59; 9 years ago (2016-12-19) 20:02 CET (UTC+01)TargetChristmas marketAttack typeVehicle-ramming attack, truck hijacking, shooting, mass murderWeapons Scania R 450 semi-trailer truck .22-caliber Erma Model EP552S semi-automatic pistol Knife Deaths13 (including a victim who died in 2021)Injured56Perpetrator Islamic StateAssailantAnis AmriMotiveIslamic terrorism and retaliation for German support of War against the Islamic State The 2016 Berlin truck attack was an Islamic terrorist attack that occurred on 19 December 2016, when a hijacked semi-trailer truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, Germany, by a Muslim migrant from Tunisia, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured. The truck was eventually stopped by its automatic brakes. The perpetrator was Anis Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian unsuccessful asylum seeker, who was killed four days after the attack in a shootout with police near Milan in Italy. An initial suspect was arrested shortly after the attack and later released due to lack of evidence. One of the victims was the truck's original driver, Łukasz Urban, who was shot dead hours before the attack. Nearly five years after the attack, a man who was critically injured during the attack died from complications related to his wounds, becoming the 13th victim. The attack is the deadliest act of terror in Germany since the 1980 Oktoberfest bombing in Munich, which killed 13 people and injured 211 others, and as of December 2023, it remains the worst Islamist terrorist attack by number of casualties in German history. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack and released a video of the perpetrator, Anis Amri, pledging allegiance to the terror group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

[edit] The Berlin attack took place during a time of heightened Islamic terrorism in Europe. Several terrorist attacks in 2016, in Germany and in neighboring countries, have been linked to ISIS; some of them were similar to the truck attack on the Christmas market in Berlin (e.g. the 2014 Nantes attack and the 2016 Nice truck attack, both in France).

[edit] Truck hijacking[edit] The path of the truck shown on a photograph of the market The hijacked semi‑truck involved in the Berlin Christmas market attack at Breitscheidplatz, photographed in the aftermath on 20 December 2016 The vehicle involved, a black Scania R 450 semi-trailer truck, bore Polish number plates and belonged to a Polish delivery company, Usługi Transportowe (Transport Services) Ariel Żurawski, based in Sobiemyśl. The truck was on its return leg to Poland, having started its trip in Turin, Italy, and was transporting steel beams to a Berlin warehouse owned by ThyssenKrupp.

The path of the truck shown on a map The head of the delivery company, Ariel Żurawski, reported that his cousin, Łukasz Robert Urban, had been driving the truck to Berlin, but that he could not imagine him being responsible for the attack. Żurawski's company last contacted Urban between 15:00 and 16:00, when Urban reported that he had arrived at the Berlin warehouse a day early and had to wait there overnight to unload his truck the following morning. The last photo of Urban still alive was taken at a kebab shop near the ThyssenKrupp warehouse at about 14:00. The family had been unable to contact Urban since 16:00. Żurawski suspected that the truck had been hijacked based on its GPS coordinates, as well as indications that it was being driven erratically. Żurawski later identified the victim found in the truck as his cousin Urban, the original driver of the semi-trailer; Urban was killed by the perpetrator of the attack. According to a post-mortem examination cited by the German media, Urban was shot in the head between 16:30 and 17:30; initial reports stated that Urban had also been stabbed, but this was revised following the autopsy.

Attack on Christmas market[edit] On 19 December 2016, at 20:10 local time, the perpetrator drove the stolen truck through a Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in the City West of Berlin, killing 11 people and injuring 56. The truck came from the direction of Hardenbergstraße, drove about 50 metres (160 ft) through the market, and destroyed several stalls before turning back onto Budapester Straße and coming to a stop level with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Several witnesses saw the driver leave the truck and flee towards Tiergarten. One witness ran after him. Łukasz Urban was found dead in the passenger seat of the truck cab. He had been shot once in the head with a small-caliber firearm. Investigators initially believed that Urban might still have been alive when the truck reached Breitscheidplatz and might have been stabbed because he tried to stop the attack. Early media reports speculated that he had grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the truck to veer left and crash to a stop, and was then shot at the scene of the crash. If this had been true, this act might have saved many lives. However, later media reports indicated that the truck was brought to a stop by its automatic braking system and Urban was killed hours before the attack. No weapons were found at the scene. The Christmas market reopened on 22 December. Damaged stalls were removed and memorials were set up in their stead. Concrete barriers were placed along sides facing streets.

[edit] Twelve people died and at least forty-eight were injured throughout the attack. Many of those injured sustained serious injuries and broken bones from either being hit by the truck, or by the collapse of the wooden stalls that were damaged by the truck. Five years after the attack, a first responder to the attack died in 2021 due to injuries he sustained while responding to victims. It is believed that he was wounded by a beam, sustaining serious head injuries.

Casualties by nationality

Country

Deaths

Injuries

Ref.

 Germany

8

Unknown

 Italy

1

3

 Israel

1

1

 Poland

1

0

 Czech Republic

1

0

 Ukraine

1

0

 Spain

0

2

 United Kingdom

0

2

 United States

[edit] The truck involved, surrounded by emergency vehicles The police and public prosecutor investigated the incident as a terrorist attack. The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, said, "We must assume this was a terrorist attack." The German Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière, described the incident as a brutal attack. The U.S. Department of State had previously warned of terrorist attacks on Christmas markets in Europe after ISIL took control of Raqqa and Mosul. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack shortly after the release of a Pakistani suspect who was mistakenly detained.

Initial suspect[edit] Breitscheidplatz after the attack On the evening of 19 December, police arrested a suspect, believed to have driven the truck during the attack, near the Berlin Victory Column. He had aroused suspicion by running away from the scene of the attack out of fear that he would be considered a suspect. The arrested man, initially identified only as Naved B. (later said to be Naved Baloch by the British newspaper The Guardian), denied involvement and was later identified as a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Turbat, Pakistan. The Berlin SEK police tactical unit stormed the hangar at the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport, which is used as a refugee camp, where the arrested man lived with six others in a room. His mobile phone was seized and analyzed. Police sources later suggested that they might have arrested "the wrong man" because the individual in custody did not carry gunshot residue or any marks that would indicate that he had been in a fight. Furthermore, forensic tests did not indicate that the suspect was inside the cab of the truck. Police therefore believed that the attacker might still be at large. German Public Prosecutor General Peter Frank said, "We have to get used to the idea that the man apprehended may not be the perpetrator or belong to the group of perpetrators." The man was released on the evening of 20 December due to lack of evidence.

Hardenbergstrasse the day after; street taken by the truck straight into the Christmas market. In an interview with The Guardian on 29 December, he narrated the incident of his arrest on 19 December. According to him, after leaving a friend's house and crossing a road in central Berlin on the evening of the attack, a car started following him, after which he walked faster. When he realised that it was a police car, he stopped when they asked him to and showed his identification documents to them. He was allowed to go, but was called back seconds later and arrested. He claimed that he was tied up, blindfolded and also slapped by the police after refusing to undress for photographs. He said in the interview that he had gone into hiding, fearing for his life. The Guardian also said he had applied for asylum in Germany as a member of a secular separatist movement in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

[edit] Candlelight memorial near the scene of the attack "Goldener Riss" memorial as of 2018, marking where the truck came to a stop Many world leaders offered condolences to Germany and the victims of the attack. National and international right-wing politicians and commentators blamed the attack partly on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her policy of accepting an unlimited number of asylum seekers and migrants. Euroskeptic politicians also condemned the lack of border checks under the Schengen system for allowing the perpetrator to travel freely through several countries after the attack. By contrast, several other national and international political commentators praised what they described as the cool-headed reaction of the Merkel administration. The editorial board of The New York Times wrote that it was "dangerous" to blame German refugee policy without waiting for facts about the identity of the attacker to emerge. A petition to award Urban the Bundesverdienstkreuz had gathered over 2,500 signatures by the afternoon of 22 December. A donation page to support his family was set up on GoFundMe and collected more than €110,000 by 23 December by British truck driver Dave Duncan. He was officially thanked by Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom Arkady Rzegocki at a ceremony at Embassy of Poland, London on 9 January 2017. Polish authorities provided funds for the delivery of Urban to his family as well as the costs of the funeral and the family of Urban received a state pension. German authorities refused to reimburse the value of the destroyed truck which belonged to a company run by Urban's cousin. Muslims and Christians in Berlin held a vigil in solidarity with the victims of the attack. The funeral of Urban was held on 30 December at the Polish village of Banie and was attended by hundreds of people including President of Poland Andrzej Duda. The German government reformed its security rules in response to the attack. Among the proposals in the anti-terror plan were easing the deportations of rejected asylum seekers, increasing surveillance of those to be deported and those considered to be terror risks, limiting movement of some asylum seekers within Germany, using electronic tags on those deemed terror threats without a trial, lengthening the period suspects can be held in custody and limiting development aid to countries that don't cooperate in deportation processes. President of Tunisia Beji Caid Essebsi meanwhile stated that Europe "must be calm", vowing to take responsibility for the attacks, but insisted that it was necessary to verify citizenship before accepting deportations. The Bundestag passed a new surveillance law on 9 March in response to the attack as well as other attacks that occurred in Germany in 2016. The law gives priority to public safety when deciding on whether to permit installation of video surveillance in some locations and makes it easier for private companies to install these systems in public places. It also voted for allowing the Federal Police to install surveillance systems for reading and registering licence plate numbers.

[edit] See also: Islam in Germany § Salafism In February 2017, the German Salafist mosque organisation Berliner Fussilet-Moscheeverein was banned by authorities. Amri was said to be among its visitors. In March 2017, the German Muslim community organisation Deutschsprachige Islamkreis Hildesheim was also banned after investigators found that its members were preparing to travel to the conflict zone in Syria to fight for the Islamic State. According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education, these examples show that Salafist mosques not only concern themselves with religious matters, but also prepare serious crimes and terrorist activities. In preparation for the Christmas market 2018, the Breitscheidplatz square and its surrounding were fortified against further terrorist attacks. On the fourth anniversary in December 2020, a ceremony, which was attended by survivors and relatives of the victims, was held at the Breitscheidplatz to commemorate those killed in the attack. The archbishop of Berlin Heiner Koch said in his prayers that Berlin "was not the same as before".

[edit] 190km118miles654Chambéry3Lyon2Nijmegen1   A map of Amri's movements in the days following the attack 19 December 2016 – Polish lorry driver Łukasz Urban, 37, has his vehicle hijacked in the heart of Berlin. Shortly after 20:00 local time – The hijacked truck veers into a traditional Christmas market in the shadow of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Eleven people are killed, Urban is found stabbed and shot dead in the cabin. Shortly after the attack, a 23-year-old Pakistani asylum-seeker is arrested nearby based on a description by a witness who had attempted to chase the attacker but lost sight of him. 20 December 2016 – Following 24 hours of confusion, the Pakistani suspect is released by police as no evidence could be found that would link the man to the attack. Police state they believe the actual attacker to still be at large, possibly armed and dangerous. 21 December 2016 – Anis Amri, a Tunisian man with connections to ISIL, whose asylum request to Germany had been rejected, is announced as the new chief suspect after his documents were reportedly found in the wreckage of the hijacked lorry. He is said to have been using six different names under three different nationalities. Later in the day, a reward of up to €100,000 (£85,000) is offered by German authorities for information leading to Amri's arrest. The country's security is placed under fresh scrutiny following revelations that covert surveillance of the 24-year-old Amri had been discontinued after more than six months, due to police finding nothing to substantiate an initial tip-off. 19–22 December 2016 – Amri likely travelled to Nijmegen, the Netherlands, where it is thought he took a bus to the Lyon-Part-Dieu train station in France. He then took a train from Lyon, via Chambéry, France, to Milan, Italy, via the Italian city of Turin. 22 December 2016 – Amri's brother Abdelkader urges Amri to turn himself in, adding that his family "dissociate" themselves from him. The spokeswoman for Germany's federal prosecutor office announces that the fingerprints of Amri had been discovered on the outside of the truck, the driver's door and the vertical support beam in its window area. 23 December 2016 – 1 am – Amri arrives at the Central Station of Milan, Italy, via Turin. 3 am – Italian Police on a routine patrol in Sesto San Giovanni spot a "very suspicious" male walking through the city center. After being approached by the officers and asked to provide identification documents, the man draws a fire-arm from his backpack and begins shooting. In the ensuing shootout one police officer is injured and the suspect, later identified as Amri, is killed. 10 am – Italian interior minister Marco Minniti holds a morning press conference to announce, with "no doubt", that Italian police had shot and killed the Berlin terrorism suspect. Amaq releases a video of Amri pledging allegiance to ISIL during the day. 29 December 2016 – Prosecutors confirm the attacker sent a voice message and a picture to a contact before the attack. 4 January 2017 – A 26-year-old Tunisian man who knew Amri since late 2015 and met him a day before the attack is detained. German police state they are investigating him as well as Amri's former flatmate. Italian police confirm gun used in attack matches the one on Amri. 10 March 2017 – Italian Interior Ministry announces that it has deported a 37-year-old Tunisian man linked to Amri. 19 September 2018 – Italian authorities deported a Tunisian imam who had been sentenced to jail for armed robbery and drug trafficking. He had spread radical propaganda in the prison and celebrated the actions of Amri in the prison located in Rebibbia. He was moved from the prison to a detention centre and then put on a plane to Cairo.

The 2016 truck attack hit the heart of Berlin’s festive scene, forcing organisers across Europe to rethink crowd protection. Since December that year, markets now feature robust vehicle barriers, controlled entry points and discreet surveillance, balancing holiday charm with safety. Visitors may notice sturdy plexiglass railings and increased police presence, especially near high‑traffic stalls. While the mood remains joyful, the incident reminded authorities that open‑air celebrations can be vulnerable, prompting a lasting shift towards layered security without dampening the markets’ convivial atmosphere.

Whether you’re strolling through Berlin, London or a small town square, a few simple habits can keep the festive spirit intact. Arrive early to avoid peak crowds, keep bags close and be aware of emergency exits marked by bright signage. If you hear an unusual announcement, follow staff instructions promptly – many markets now have real‑time alert systems. Mobile phones should be set to silent yet reachable, and it’s sensible to carry a compact first‑aid kit for minor cuts. These modest precautions help you enjoy mulled wine and handmade gifts without worrying about unexpected threats.

In the years following the attack, Berlin’s Christmas market has dedicated a quiet corner to the lives lost, with a candle‑lit installation and a plaque at the entrance of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Similar gestures appear in other cities, where a moment of silence or a small memorial tree is integrated into the festivities. These commemorations serve as a reminder that the holiday spirit can coexist with remembrance, allowing visitors to reflect on the lives affected while still celebrating the communal joy that markets embody.