Morocco was aware of Berlin Christmas market attacker

BERLIN - Moroccan intelligence services became aware of the Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri in 2016 because the Tunisian made contact with radical Islamists of Moroccan origin in Germany, according to security documents seen by DPA new agency.

The documents were given by the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BKA) to the security authorities of the German federal and state governments in November 2016.

Amri ploughed a stolen truck into the Christmas Market in the German capital on December 19, 2016, killing 12 people and wounding more than 70 people.

In one note seen by DPA, Amri is described as an “Islamonaut” who wants to carry out “a project” that he cannot talk about over the phone.

At that time, the Moroccans asked the BKA for further information on a Moroccan, a French Moroccan and Amri.

They were particularly interested in their possible contacts with members of the terrorist militia Islamic State in Syria, Libya or Iraq.

At that time, the German domestic intelligence service was asked to follow up on the information from Morocco.

The committee of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, investigating the attack on the square in front of the landmark Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in central Berlin had already learnt that the intelligence service only asked its US counterpart what to make of the information. The answer from Washington came only after the attack.