Berlin truck attack suspect used 14 aliases

BERLIN — The failed Tunisian asylum seeker suspected of killing 12 people and injuring dozens in a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market last month used at least 14 different aliases and was the subject of repeated discussions and surveillance by security officials.

The fresh details about Anis Amri, shot dead by Italian police four days after the incident on Dec. 19, emerged in testimony at a parliamentary hearing Thursday in North Rhine-Westphalia, an area of Germany where Amri spent time. Lawmakers were told that security officials met on seven occasions to scrutinize the threat level Amri posed, but that there was insufficient evidence to detain him.

"The attack was carried out by a man whom security officials across Germany were very well aware of," said Ralf Jäger, the interior minister of state in western Germany where the hearing took place. "In a constitutional state, we can't simply lock up threats as a precautionary measure," he added.

Amri was part of a wave of asylum seekers who arrived in Germany in 2015 amid Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow in nearly a million refugees and migrants from predominantly Muslim countries. His application was turned down because authorities here suspected he may have become radicalized, but efforts to deport him were delayed because of a paperwork mix-up in Tunisia.

The disclosure that security officials suspected Amri posed a serious threat yet still failed to prevent the attack raises questions about German intelligence agencies' handling of the affair. It also piles pressure on Merkel ahead of a general election later this year. Recent regional elections have seen her party lose support to Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), an anti-immigration group.

About a third of voters believe Merkel's refugee and migrant policies played an indirect role in the attack, according to a poll released by German research firm Forsa in late December. A separate poll by survey firm Insa for German newspaper Bild found that support for AfD grew marginally after the assault.

A poll published late Thursday by state broadcaster ARD found that 73% of Germans believe the country is a safe place despite the attack on the market. That belief was held by backers of all of Germany's political parties with the exception of AfD supporters. Two-thirds of them feared for their safety.

AfD is forecast to receive up to 15% of the vote in this fall's general election. Such a tally would prevent it from being part of any new government because every political party in Germany has ruled out forming a coalition with it. The far-right party is represented at the local parliamentary level but it would need to win an outright majority in the general election to play any role in the federal government, a scenario experts say is highly unlikely.

Germany arrests Tunisian who dined with Christmas market attacker