Berlin truck attack: mosque shut down amid anti-terror raids

A mosque used by the Berlin Christmas market truck attacker, Anis Amri, has been shut down by German authorities amid a series of police raids in the hunt for other radical Islamists.

The prayer rooms of the Fussilet 33 mosque in the central district of Moabit was a known meeting place for men and women who moved in Islamist circles.

More than 460 police officers swept 24 other locations across the city in the early hours of Tuesday morning in raids linked to activities at the mosque, where it is suspected money was regularly collected to fund terror attacks in Syria.

Amri, who carried out the attack on 19 December in which 12 people died and more than 50 were injured, was a regular visitor to Fussilet 33, along with other Islamists police believe were willing to carry out further terrorist attacks.

Members of the mosque – mostly of Turkish or Caucasian origin – were allegedly radicalised there and recruited to fight for Islamic State in Syria.

Officers had observed the mosque entrance using a hidden camera from a police station located opposite, a spokesman said. Communication between various members of the Fussilet 33 association had also been under surveillance.

Among the properties searched on Tuesday were office spaces, flats, and six cells in two prisons. No arrests are believed to have been made.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Berlin’s top security official said authorities had seized funds belonging to Fussilet 33, shut down its website and imposed a blanket ban to prevent the organisation from establishing itself under a different name or location.

“It was necessary to ban the organisation and all successor organisations to stop it once and for all,” Andreas Geisel said “People who preach hate have no place in this city.”

Amri fled Berlin after the attack and was apprehended on the outskirts of Milan four days later by two police officers, one of whom shot him dead.

Authorities announced they would finally close the mosque this month after several attempts to do so since 2015. Given notice of the closure, the organisers moved out last week and cancelled their rental contract with the landlord.

The door has been boarded up and a notice in German and Turkish reads: “This mosque is now closed.”