German police detain Islamist militant believed to be behind Berlin attack
German Police arrest 17-year-old asylum seeker, suspected to have planned 2015 Christmas market attack; Interior Min. confirms suspect to be Syrian refugee planning suicide attack.
"I can confirm that," the spokesman said, referring to the report.
However, Brandenburg police said they had not yet found evidence that the suspect was planning an attack. He was detained Tuesday in the village of Gerswalde, 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Berlin, after they learned he had sent a farewell message to family members and told them that "he had joined the jihad," or holy war.
The WhatsApp message talking about jihad to the suspect's family was sent within the last week, and Brandenburg authorities were told of it late Monday night by two other German states, stated Brandenburg Police Spokesman Torsten Herbst.
He said police were investigating but so far "evidence of the planning of a concrete act has not yet been identified."
Though the German Interior Ministry's office did already identify the suspect as Syrian, Herbst said investigators were checking to see whether he falsely registered as a Syrian but was actually from a North African country.
The teenager, whose name wasn't released, came to Germany in 2015 as an unaccompanied minor and registered as an asylum-seeker. He has been living since 2016 in a home for minor refugees in Gerswalde, and was detained there in the Tuesday morning raid.
"The Syrian nationality and concrete attack plans could not so far be confirmed. The investigations continue," Brandenburg Police tweeted.
"According to evidence, he joined Jihad and said goodbye to family members," they added, referring to the term for Islamic holy war.
Memories are still fresh in Germany of the Berlin Christmas market attack last December, in which 12 people were killed by a failed asylum seeker who had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Last Wednesday, police arrested four suspected Islamists in dawn raids in Berlin as the German capital geared up for a long weekend of mass gatherings, capped by a joint appearance by Chancellor Angela Merkel and former U.S. president Barack Obama.
