Pakistani man briefly held over Berlin attack hails from Balochistan

Relative says Naveed Baloch sought asylum in Germany in February this year


Muhammad Zafar December 21, 2016
People mourn on December 20, 2016 at a makeshift memorial in front of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin, where a truck crashed the day before into a Christmas market. PHOTO: AFP

QUETTA: A Pakistani man briefly detained in Germany for his alleged links with the terrorist attack that killed 12 people hailed from Balochistan, his relative said on Tuesday.

Naveed Baloch applied for asylum in Germany in February this year and was living in Turbat when he left for the country, his cousin added. Baloch hailed from Mand area in Kech district of the province.

On Tuesday, German authorities released Baloch due to a lack of evidence.

Germany releases Pakistani man held over Berlin attack

News of the arrest of the 23-year-old Pakistani had led politicians in Germany and beyond to demand a crackdown on immigration, but Chancellor Angela Merkel urged caution. “There is much we still do not know with sufficient certainty but we must, as things stand now, assume it was a terrorist attack,” she told reporters.

The truck rammed into wooden huts on Monday evening near the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, known as west Berlin’s most famous landmarks.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. “The executor of the operation.. in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic state and he executed the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition countries,” the militant group said.

COMMENTS (2)

Humza | 7 years ago | Reply @Malik Saab: You should know the majority of refugees in Germany are Arabs, Iranians, Afghans and Somalis - not as many Pakistanis as these other refugee groups. The sexual crimes and rapes of the New Years in Cologne were due to groups of Arabs. The recent rape and killing of a German medical student in Freiberg was by an Afghan teenager refugee so don't drag Pakistani refugees in Germany into it for nothing.
Malik Saab | 7 years ago | Reply Even tough he is free from this mess, but according to German media he is involved in sexual assaults and he has was known to the criminal police before this incident. Such type of sexual assaults by Pakistanis are bringing a bad name to Pakistan in general.
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