The ambassador, Andrei Karlov, was several minutes into a speech at the embassy-sponsored exhibition in the capital when a man, said to be a Turkish police officer, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and fired at least eight shots. Five shots hit Karlov in the back.
He’s alleged to have also shouted ‘we die in Aleppo, you die here’. He added: ‘Don’t forget Aleppo, Don’t forget Syria. Only death will remove me here.’
It is believed he was 22-year-old Turkish police officer Mert Altintas from Ankara and in the special operations unit so had police ID, allowing him to get close to the ambassador.
People cower in a corner following the shooting(Picture AP)
In another development 12 people were left dead and a further 50 injured when a truck deliberately ploughed into them at a packed German Christmas market .
Berlin police are investigating a “presumed terrorist attack” after at least 12 people were killed and about 50 injured when a truck ploughed into a Christmas market in the city on Monday evening.
They are interrogating a suspect – thought to be the driver – who was arrested 2km from the scene and are working on the assumption the black Scania articulated truck was deliberately driven into the busy market in Breitscheidplatz. The truck had a runup of about 80 metres before crashing into market stalls and shoppers outside Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, at about 8pm.
A man found in the truck was ruled out by police as the driver at the time of the attack. He died as a result of the crash and was later identified as a Polish citizen. The Polish delivery company that owned the vehicle said it lost touch with the driver at 4pm local time after it left the country for Berlin.
Owner Ariel Zurawki said he feared the vehicle, driven by his cousin, might have been hijacked. He told the Polish news outlet TVN24: “They must have done something to my driver.”
Doctors treating patients at the scene and in clinics across Berlin reported a high number of fractures and internal injuries – including bleeding and damaged organs. One doctor said operations would be going on through the night with many of the injured in a life-threatening state so off-duty doctors across Berlin were being brought in.
A witness told the Guardian the truck hit the market at speed. “It was not an accident. The truck was going 40mph. It was in the middle of a square, there are main roads either side, [where it could have come from]. But it showed no sign of slowing down,” said Emma Rushton, a British tourist.
She said it crashed into a stall only a few feet from where she and her friend were standing. “We heard a massive bang. About eight to 10 feet in front of us was where the lorry ploughed through. It ploughed through the stall where we bought our mulled wine.
(Text The Guardian and Metro.co.uk)
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