Unprecedented manhunt underway in Germany for fugitive Berlin terrorist

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. December 21, 2016, 11:17 AM (IDT)

Germany’s police and intelligence services launched an unprecedented manhunt on Tuesday evening to capture those involved in Monday’s terrorist attack in Berlin, following the release of the only suspect taken into custody. The massive search includes the deployment of counterterror troops, bomb disposal specialists and canine units in the centers of cities as well as around public and government buildings; the setup of many roadblocks; and raids in areas with large concentrations of refugees to obtain intelligence on the location of the terrorist. A police spokesman repeated the police’s warning to citizens that one or more armed terrorists are on the loose. Earlier, a senior official of the country’s interior ministry said that investigators did not have any lead for the arrest of those involved in the attack. Monday night’s incident in whch a truck rammed into a Christmas market left 12 people dead and 48 wounded. One of those injured was 60-year-old Rami Elkayam, an Israeli whose wife Dalia was still missing on Wednesday morning more than 36 hours after the attack.

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