Story highlights
12 people killed in Berlin, several more injured
Market is latest aspect of German life targeted
Over the course of 2016 there have been a string of terror attacks and foiled terror plots in Germany.
On Monday evening a large truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin filled with shoppers – authorities are treating it as a terror attack.
The market was a quintessential Christmas scene: trees strung with lights, vendors serving candied fruit and waffles, the smell of mulled wine in the air.
But it’s far from the only corner of public life that’s been hit this year – train passengers and music festival goers have also been targeted.
January: Train station terror plot
Two train stations in Munich were evacuated and train services stopped as Germany celebrated the beginning of 2016 after police received “concrete information” of potential terror attacks.
Intelligence officials said the foiled attack was to involve multiple suicide bombers and was linked to ISIS. Between five and seven alleged terrorists were planning suicide attacks, Munich police president Hubertus Andra told reporters.
A huge manhunt was launched for the suspects but came up empty. The investigation was dropped for a lack of leads in February, according to the German Press Agency.
July: Train ax attack
In July, a 17-year-old boy attacked passengers on a train in southern Germany with a knife and ax. Four people were injured, all of them family members and tourists from Hong Kong.
The suspect, a Pakistani citizen who came to Germany about a year before the attack, was later shot dead by police.
A video he left behind seemed to indicate that he was inspired by ISIS into carrying out a “lone wolf” attack but did not have any links with the terror group. Police said it was likely he was radicalized in Germany.
July: Festival suicide bombing
Days after the train attack, a suicide bomber injured 15 people when he blew himself up at a music festival in Ansbach.
In a video left on his mobile phone, the 27-year-old failed Syrian asylum seeker pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and ISIS media organizations claimed him as a “soldier” of the caliphate.
The attack, which happened in the wake of the train stabbings and the devastating truck attack in Nice, France, spurred increased criticism from the right of Angela Merkel and German immigration and refugee policies.
December: Christmas market truck attack
The Nice attack was echoed this week as a large black truck hauling 25-tonnes of steel smashed into a crowded Christmas market Monday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens.
Berlin police said the truck was “steered deliberately into the crowd” and are investigating it as a terror attack.
The driver of the truck has been arrested.
