Berlin truck attacker likely got gun in Switzerland

Berlin, Zurich: The Tunisian man who killed 12 people last month by ploughing a truck into a Berlin Christmas market had made several trips to Switzerland and may have procured a gun there that he used to hijack a truck for the attack, German broadcaster ZDF reported.

“A lot speaks for that in the investigations so far,” ZDF said of the possibility that Anis Amri, a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia, obtained the gun in Switzerland.

Analysis of data from Amri’s mobile phone indicated that he had visited Switzerland many times, ZDF reported, without citing its source. Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan on December 23.

Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Wednesday it had opened criminal proceedings in connection with the Berlin attack on December 19.

The OAG neither confirmed or denied that the suspect had stayed in Switzerland or had obtained the gun in the country.

“The OAG has opened criminal proceedings against unknown persons based on information from abroad,” an OAG spokeswoman said in a statement on Saturday.

It said the information received was related to contact data linked to Amri.

“The aim of the criminal procedure is to clarify possible points of contact with Switzerland which could be of interest to foreign colleagues,” the spokeswoman said, adding this applied to information about logistics, people and the weapon.

“At the moment there is no verified information.

German Islamist preacher on trial over Syria links

Duesseldorf: One of Germany’s best known Islamist preachers went on trial in the western city of Duesseldorf on Tuesday on charges of backing “a terrorist group” fighting in Syria.

Sven Lau, 35, stands accused of supporting and recruiting fighters for the Syria-based Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA), or Army of Emigrants and Supporters, which Germany lists as a terrorist organisation. A convert to the ultra-

Merkel beaten by anti-immigration party in Germany poll

Schwerin: Germany’s anti-immigration populists made a strong showing at Sunday’s state polls, scoring ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party as voters punished the German leader over her liberal refugee policy.

The xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) clinched around 21 per cent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Vorpommern, results showed after most ballots were counted.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union garnered just 19 per cent in its worst ever score in the north-eastern state, while the Social Democrats maintained top place with around 30 per cent.