posted at 5:01 pm on December 20, 2016 by John Sexton
As I noted earlier, the attacker who drove a truck through a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, Germany is still on the loose. But Tuesday ISIS claimed the unknown attacker was one of their soldiers, which may just mean that he was inspired by their call for attacks on western targets. From the Associated Press:
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Tuesday for a truck attack on a crowded Berlin Christmas market that left 12 people dead and nearly 50 injured, as German security forces hunted for the perpetrator after releasing a man from custody for lack of evidence.
IS said in a statement from its Amaq news agency that the attacker “in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition.”…
The claim of responsibility came not long after German prosecutors said they’d released a man picked up on Monday night near the scene of the attack, initially suspected of driving the truck.
NY Times correspondent Rukmini Callimachi says the language used in the ISIS press release is now boilerplate for any attack it inspires:
1. Speak of the devil, ISIS appears to have just claimed the Berlin attack. Here’s the post from their Nashir channel and a Google Translate pic.twitter.com/tIgMUOFGc0
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
2. Notice language of the claim matching previous claims. Attacker is a “soldier of the Islamic State.” And he carried out an “operation”
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
3. Goes on to say assailant did so in “response to appeals to target nationals of the international coalition.” This is boilerplate ISIS.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
4. Language used to describe Berlin attacker mirrors terminology used to describe Nice and Ohio State attackers: https://t.co/diirKGATpq
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
5. In fact, terminology has now become part of the cookie-cutter ISIS claim of responsibility used for nearly all attacks inc Paris/Brussels
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
6. To ISIS, someone sent directly by them like Paris attackers is as much a “soldier of the Islamic State” as one merely inspired by them
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
7. This is the innovation of ISIS. Al-Qaeda tried for years to inspire people remotely, with some success. ISIS is doing it week after week
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
8. Still looking into this, but other than Hamburg, Berlin seems to be one of only times ISIS has taken credit when attacker still at large
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 20, 2016
Meanwhile the Berlin police say they have taken over 500 tips about the attack:
508 leads regarding #Breitscheidplatz were received by our colleagues answering the tip-line (030-54024111). THANK You
— PolizeiBerlinEinsatz (@PolizeiBerlin_E) December 20, 2016
#Thanks for prudence+trust. Without any fake messages+rumours our colleagues are able to concentrate on the investigation #Breitscheidplatz
— PolizeiBerlinEinsatz (@PolizeiBerlin_E) December 20, 2016
One witness to the attack says she held the hand of a man who was laying on the ground with a head injury. “I couldn’t understand what the man on the floor was saying, he was trying to get up but his head injury was severe, Sarah Dobler told the BBC. “I held his hand, and told him everything was going to be okay – it was as if we were in a horror film,” she added.
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