Berlin Lorry Attach Kill 12

A truck has ploughed into a crowd close to a Christmas market in the German capital Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring up to 48 others, police say.

Police said first indications pointed to an attack on the market, situated at Breitscheidplatz square at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church that was kept as a ruin after World War II.

The truck, which had Polish license plates and was carrying steel beams, careered into the market at what would have been one of the most crowded times, when adults and children would be gathering in the traditional cluster of stalls.

Police said on Twitter that they had taken one suspect into custody and that a passenger from the truck had died as it crashed into people gathered around the wooden huts serving mulled wine and sausages.

The nationality of the suspected driver, who fled the crash scene and was later arrested, was unclear, police said.

Police said the passenger who was found dead in the truck was a Polish national. Police later said on Twitter the passenger was believed to have had no control over the vehicle, which they assume was "intentionally controlled into the crowd".