The latest from Berlin: Searching for a suspect

German media report that police are searching for a Tunisian named Anis A, born in 1992 in the city of Tataouine, after a temporary-stay permit was found under a seat in the cab of the lorry. That’s how the BBC puts it. The man is aged 21 or 23 and also known by two aliases, according to unconfirmed reports in the daily Allgemeine Zeitung and the Bild newspaper.

The UK”s Telegraph adds that, according to German reports, “asylum office papers believed to belong to the man were found in the cab of the truck.” Did they just get around to searching the cab of the truck?

The BBC adds that German media have also reported a police operation in process in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

We know that the truck used in the attack had been hijacked. The Polish truck driver was killed in the attack but it appears that he struggled valiantly to prevent it:

[I]t has emerged that the original driver of the truck may have fought the attacker as the vehicle was being driven into the market.

Polish citizen Lukasz Urban was found dead on the passenger seat with gunshot and stab wounds.

Investigators quoted by German media say there is evidence that, despite being stabbed, Mr Urban wrestled him for the steering wheel.

One official quoted by Bild newspaper said it appeared from the post-mortem examination that the driver had survived up to the attack and was shot dead when the truck came to a halt. No gun has been recovered.

Ariel Zurawski, the owner of the Polish transport company, said he had been asked to identify Mr Urban from photographs.

“His face was swollen and bloodied. It was really clear that he was fighting for his life,” he told broadcaster TVN.

Company manager Lukasz Wasik described Mr Urban as a “good, quiet and honest person” and said he believed he would have defended the truck “to the end”.

Sky News has more here.

It strikes me as odd that the German authorities seem not even to have released the full name of the current suspect. I can’t find additional identifying information beyond the suspect’s first name — no last name, no photograph. So far as can be determined from the British press, the authorities have not enlisted the assistance of the public in locating the suspect.

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