ISIS Releases Video As Berlin Market Attack Suspect Killed In Milan
MILAN (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A video released by the Islamic State group shows the Tunisian man, who authorities believe carried out Monday's deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, pledging allegiance to its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and vowing to fight against what he calls "the Crusader pigs.''
The video surfaced on the same day that 24-year-old Anis Amri was killed during a shootout with police in Italy, 600 miles from Berlin.
Milan police chief Antonio de Iesu said the officers became suspicious after noticing Amri alone, outside a closed suburban Milan train station at 3 a.m. When asked, he said he had no ID papers. He also had no phone and just a small pocket knife.
Italy's interior minister Marco Minniti said Amri pulled out a gun, shooting one of the officers in the shoulder. The second officer responded with deadly force, fatally shooting Amri. The officer's injury is not life-threatening.
PHOTOS: Truck Slams Into Berlin Holiday Market
Minniti said after the shootout, all the necessary checks were conducted and that "the person killed, without a shadow of a doubt, is Anis Amri."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says security forces will not rest until they know who may have helped Amri escape. Officials say he fled to France, and then, Italy.
Amri was the main suspect in the attack that killed 12 people and left 48 others injured.
German authorities issued a wanted notice for Amri on Wednesday and offered a reward for information leading to his arrest after a document belonging to the Tunisian man was found in the cab of the truck used in the attack.
German authorities say Amri has criminal convictions in both Tunisia and Italy. He also successfully evaded deportation from Germany, even after his application for asylum was rejected. He'd been under police surveillance as a possible terror threat before the attack.
At an afternoon news conference, Merkel said she spoke with Tunisia's president, and said the two nations must speed up deportations of those who, like Amri, were denied asylum.
The video released by ISIS Friday morning, which appeared to have been taken by Amri himself, shows him standing on a footbridge in the north of Berlin, not far from where he allegedly hijacked the truck used in the attack.
He pledges his allegiance to the Islamic State and threatens the west for "bombing Muslims," Carlson reported.
The site is just a few hundred yards from a Berlin state administration office that deals with asylum matters.
It is unclear whether Amri's case was handled there or whether the video was taken before or after the attack.
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