BERLIN, DEC 21, (DNA) – Militant group Daesh has claimed responsibility of a terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas market, which left 12 people dead and 48 injured.

The militant group announced the claim through its news agency, Amaq.

Earlier Berlin police released a Pakistani asylum seeker suspected of being the man behind the wheels of the truck.

“The accused, detained over the attack on the Berlin Christmas market on December 19, 2016, was let go on this evening on the orders of the federal prosecutor,” his office said in a statement. Authorities identified the man earlier as a Pakistani asylum seeker.

“The forensic tests carried out so far did not provide evidence of the accused´s presence during the crimes in the cab of the lorry.”

Twelve people were killed when the truck tore through the crowd Monday, smashing wooden stalls and crushing victims, in scenes reminiscent of July’s deadly attack in the French Riviera city of Nice. Another 48 people were injured, 24 of whom were released from hospital by late Tuesday.

The mangled truck came to a halt with its windscreen smashed, a trail of destruction and screaming victims in its wake, with Christmas trees toppled on their side.

Earlier, German media quoting police sources claimed that the Pakistani asylum seeker arrested in connection with the attack is not the real perpetrator.

German newspaper Die Welt quoted a senior police source as saying that officers have the “wrong man”.

“We have the wrong man. And thus a new situation. For the real culprit is still armed at large and can cause new damage,” the source told the newspaper.

The Pakistani man was arrested about 2 kilometres (1 miles) from the crash site on suspicion of having been at the wheel of the truck that plowed into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market on Monday evening, killing 12 people and injuring 48.=DNA

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