German minister confirms new suspect in focus in Berlin attack

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere confirmed Dec. 21 that authorities have identified a new suspect in the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, one day after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 12 people.

"There is a new suspect we are searching for - he is a suspect but not necessarily the assailant," de Maiziere told reporters, according to AFP.

He declined to immediately confirm numerous media reports that the suspect was a Tunisian asylum seeker with links to the Islamic extremist scene. 

Germany's daily Allgemeine Zeitung and the Bild newspapers reported that German police were searching for a Tunisian man, aged either 21 or 23 and known by three different names, who was in connection with the deadly truck attack.

Both of the newspapers said asylum office papers believed to belong to the man were found in the cab of the truck.

The documents, which announced a stay of deportation, were found under the driver's seat of the 40-tonne lorry that barreled through the Christmas market in the heart of the German capital.

ISIL on Dec. 20 claimed responsibility for the truck rampage.

"A soldier of the Islamic State carried out the Berlin operation in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries," the ISIL-linked Amaq news agency said, without identifying the perpetrator.

The claim came shortly after German prosecutors, saying they lacked evidence, released a Pakistani asylum seeker who was the sole suspect in the case, sparking fears of a killer at large.

"We can't rule out that the perpetrator is on the run," de Maiziere told broadcaster ZDF on Dec. 20, adding he was confident there would...