Suspect Released in Terrorist Drive Through German Market That Killed 9 and injuring 50

Update, 12/20: German police have released a Pakistani man detained for driving a truck through a crowded holiday market in Berlin, says the Washington Post. Police released him for lack of evidence.

Also, today the Islamic State in Syria has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the driver was "a soldier of the Islamic State." This is the phrase ISIS employs to indicate the person was actually trained by and employed by Isis.

Isis is on the ropes in Mosul and Raqaa, Syria, due to a NATO offensive, so it makes sense they would want to retaliate in Germany, the heart of NATO.

A truck has run into a crowded Christmas market in the center of Berlin, causing 9 deaths and about 50 injuries. The driver is now in custody. He is a Pakistani immigrant who hijacked the truck and shot the Polish driver.

"We can confirm nine fatalities & many injured. A lot of our colleagues are at #Breitscheidplatz to investigate the background," a message on the official police Twitter account said.

A police spokesperson told German media that they are treating the truck incident in Berlin as a terrorist attack.

Both the Berliner Zeitung newspaper and the Berliner Morgenpost reported the truck ran into the market outside the landmark Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Monday evening.

A photo posted by the Morgenpost showed damaged tables and stalls. Police evacuated the Christmas market and sealed it off. Law enforcement also set up a special area for the relatives of those injured, local media reported.

Both newspapers reported it wasn't immediately clear whether the incident was an accident or some kind of an attack on the market. However, German Police shot the driver multiple times, to make the truck stop. The truck had Polish plates.

"It looked like [it was done] on purpose," a police officer who witnessed the incident told Berliner Zeitung.

In a separate incident, 3 men were reportedly shot and killed outside an Islamic Center in Zurich, Switzerland.