So-called Islamic State (IS) claims responsibility for Monday's truck attack at a Berlin market, which killed 12 people and injured 49
The registered driver of the Polish lorry is reported to have been found dead with gunshot wounds
German police have released a Pakistani suspect, saying there is no evidence against him
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller attend a vigil at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Mr Mueller says "the entire free world mourns the victims of this cowardly and inhumane attack on our peaceful way of living"
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The German news channel NTV says one of those injured in last night's Berlin lorry attack is an Israeli citizen, quoting the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Berlin eyewitness: 'I saw one girl shouting for her mummy'
The suspected driver of a truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market and killed 12 people has denied any involvement, the DPA news agency reports, quoting security sources.
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Image source, Getty ImagesThis is the full transcript of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's news conference about the suspected attack a short while ago:
Quote MessageThis is a very difficult day. I, like millions in Germany, am outraged, shocked and deeply saddened by what happened yesterday in Berlin.
Quote MessageTwelve people who were still with us yesterday, who were looking forward to Christmas and had plans for the holiday, are no longer among us. A horrific and incomprehensible act has robbed them of their lives. More than 40 other people are injured, fighting for their lives or their health.
Quote MessageIn these moments I think first of them, the dead and injured and their loved ones. I want them to know that the whole country is united in grief with them. We all hope – and many of us are praying – that they find solace and strength, recover and live on after this dreadful blow.
Quote MessageI think of the emergency services, the police, firefighters, doctors and health workers who served their fellow people yesterday evening in the shadow of the Memorial Church and I thank them from my heart for their difficult work.
Quote MessageI think of the investigators. I have great confidence in the men and women who since yesterday evening have been working to piece together this deplorable act. Every detail of what happened will be uncovered and it will be punished as hard as our law demands.
Quote MessageThere is a lot we still don’t know with enough certainty about this act but we must assume it was an act of terrorism.
Quote MessageI know that it would be especially hard for us to bear if someone who had asked for refuge and asylum turned out to have done this. It would be particularly sickening for the many Germans who daily work to help refugees and for those who really do need our shelter and are working to integrate into society.
Quote MessageI’m in constant contact with the president, interior minister De Maiziere and Berlin mayor Michael Muller. In 30 minutes the security cabinet will meet and I have invited the relevant ministers and the heads of the security services to report on the situation and the possible consequences that could arise from it and we will meet again when necessary.
Quote MessageI, along with the mayor and interior minister, will - like so many other Berliners - go to the Breitscheidplatz in the afternoon to express our condolences.
Quote MessageMillions of people, me included, are asking themselves this morning - how can we live with the fact that during a carefree stroll in the Christmas market - a place where we celebrate life - a murderer can cause so many deaths. A simple answer to that, I do not have.
Quote MessageI only know that we cannot and do not wish to give all this up – Christmas markets, good times with family and friends outside in our city squares. We do not want to live paralysed by the fear of evil, even if it is hard in these difficult hours. We will find the strength to live life as we in Germany want to live it – free, with one another and open."
German newspaper Die Welt is reporting that the suspect being questioned by police over the Berlin attack has had a temporary residence permit since June 2016.
The newspaper cited a criminal police report, which it said added that there continued to be a high threat from Islamist terrorism in Germany.
A German security source earlier said the suspect was a 23-year-old migrant from Pakistan, who was known to police for committing minor offences.
Flags outside the EU Commission building in Brussels have been lowered to half-mast following the suspected attack in Berlin.
Image source, Getty ImagesHere is a bit more of what Angela Merkel said at a news conference a few moments ago.
"This is a very difficult day. Like millions of people in Germany, I am appalled, shocked and deeply saddened at what happened yesterday evening in Berlin's Breitscheidplatz.
"Twelve people who were alive among us yesterday, who were looking forward to Christmas, who had plans for the holiday period, they are no longer with us. An atrocious and ultimately incomprehensible act robbed them of their lives."
Quote MessageI would like you to know that we - all of us, the whole of the country - are with you in deep sadness."
She added: "It would be very difficult for us to learn that a human being committed this deed who came to Germany to ask for refuge and asylum.
"It would be terrible for all of the Germans who are very active day by day in helping asylum seekers and refugees."
The Christmas market in Berlin is to stay closed on Tuesday as a mark of respect, it has been announced. However, other markets in Germany should remain open as normal.
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Similarities are being drawn between the incident in Berlin and the killing of 86 people in Nice, in July, when a lorry drove into crowds celebrating Bastille Day.
Following that attack, BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani asked what could be done to stop lorry attacks?
He says:
Quote MessageWith careful planning, cities can be "hardened" by the creative use of special barriers and bollards capable of withstanding direct impacts - stopping a lorry from reaching its goal.
Read his article here.
Image source, Reuters/APBriton Mike Fox has spoken about how he helped rescue people trapped under collapsed market stalls on Monday night.
"As we were leaving, the large truck came through," he said. "It had just passed me, passed my girlfriend. I think it missed me by three metres - missed her by five."
Mr Fox said he spoke to two people who were lying on the floor with broken limbs "but they were going to be OK".
He added: "I saw one guy being dragged away with blood on his face. I helped several other people lift the side of one of the stalls up so that they could pull two other people from underneath."
Fellow British tourist Emma Rushton said she had an "incredibly, incredibly lucky" escape.
"We were waiting, looking around at the lights and waiting to go back to the hotel when we heard an almighty bang.
"We looked around and saw lights being torn down by the lorry and the huts in front of us... were completely crushed.
"It completely decimated the hut where we bought wine, and it carried on going."
Read more here: Witnesses tell of devastation
Image source, ReuterMrs Merkel said the government "assumed" they were dealing with a terror attack, adding: "We will find the strength to continue living life as we want to live it in Germany - in freedom, openness and together."
She said "millions, including myself, are asking themselves how can we live with the fact that during a stroll in the Christmas market... a murderer can take so many lives".
Mrs Merkel added that "we don't want to live with fear of evil".
She said the suspected attack would be particularly sickening if the perpetrators had been allowed into Germany as refugees.
She told the news conference she will visit the site in Berlin later.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is "shocked and very saddened" by the Berlin Christmas market attack which she described as a "terrible" deed.
Police say they have increased the number of patrols in the city of Berlin as a precaution following the suspected attack in which 12 people are so far known to have died.
Officers will be carrying machine pistols and wearing bulletproof vests.
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Chancellor Merkel's immigration policy has been under attack from rival politicians.
There are also questions about whether enough was done after warnings Christmas markets in Europe could be a target.
Professor Anthony Glees is director of security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham, in the UK, and has been speaking to the BBC's Newsday programme:
Controversy over warnings and immigration policy
One of those found dead in the Breitscheidplatz had been shot, the interior minister for the German state of Brandenburg said.
It was presumably the lorry's original Polish driver, who was a victim in the attack and did not play a part in carrying it out, Karl-Heinz Schröter said.
Earlier reports in Poland suggested the driver had been stabbed to death.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent condolences to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, according to a statement on the Kremlin's website.
"This crime against peaceful civilians is shocking in its savage cynicism," Mr Putin said.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe suspect was arrested at the Victory Column in the middle of Tiergarten park
German police say they were able to catch the driver thanks to the bravery of an eyewitness, who followed him as he fled into the darkness of the Tiergarten park, near the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market after the attack.
A spokesman said police received a number of calls from people at the scene of the attack, including from one man who was obviously "plucking up his courage during the call", Winfried Wenzel told Die Welt , externalnewspaper.
He ran after the driver, keeping some distance between them, while staying on the line to police and giving them his position.
The chase ended after about 2km when the suspect was arrested by police at the Victory Column in the middle of the park.
"This courage from a member of the public is heartening," Mr Wenzel said.
The eyewitness has chosen to remain anonymous, police said.
The suspected truck driver was a 23-year old migrant from Pakistan who was known to police for minor offences and used several names, a German security source has told Reuters news agency.
The suspect arrived in Germany in February and was staying at a refugee hostel in the building of what used to be Tempelhof airport, the news agency reported.
Various reports suggest special forces are searching the airport.
Berlin police say German government prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the suspected attack.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to speak about the suspected attack in Berlin within the next hour.
Mrs Merkel has cancelled a local election district visit and will speak about the suspected attack at 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT).
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