Buhari Asks World to Rally Round Merkel after Terror Attack

•   Tunisian Attacker identified as Anis Amri, 24 killed in Paris

By Tobi Soniyi in Abuja and Adedayo Adejobi
 

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the latest terror attacks on Germany as a wake-up call for the rest of the world to show sympathy and solidarity towards Chancellor Angela Merkel in the global effort to neutralise and obliterate terrorists’ agenda against humanity. 

However, latest reports show that the perpetrator of the attack on Christian Market, Anis Amril  has been killed in Paris. He was allegedly stopped by the police in the early hours and asked for his identification instead of producing it, drew a pistol and shot at the police officer. The injured police officer was said to have returned fire and killed him in the process

 A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said Buhari also extolled Chancellor Merkel’s strong leadership qualities and her compassion towards immigrants from the Middle East and other countries.  

Buhari said he appreciated the Chancellor’s support for Nigeria in dealing with its own domestic challenges, including terrorism. 

A man suspected to be terrorist last Tuesday drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more

On Tuesday night, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

The 24-year-old Tunisian traveled to Italy from Germany via France, taking advantage of Europe’s open-border Schengen pact to cross the continent undetected.

As anger grew over the fact that Amri had escaped expulsion twice in 18 months thanks to bureaucratic loopholes, euroskeptic parties called for the reintroduction of border controls, while Germany said deportations had to be made easier.

Amri is suspected of ploughing a truck through a festive Berlin market on Monday, killing 12 people. In a video released on Friday after his death, he is seen pledging his allegiance to militant group Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“I call on my Muslim brothers everywhere… Those in Europe, kill the crusader pigs, each person to their own ability,” he says in the video posted on Islamic State’s Amaq news agency.

Amri had arrived in Milan’s main railway station from France at 1.00 a.m. (2000 EDT) and then traveled to the working class suburb of Sesto San Giovanni, where two young policemen approached him because he looked suspicious idling on a street.

Milan police Chief Antonio De Iesu told a news conference his men had no idea that they might be dealing with Amri.

“They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they would have been much more cautious,” De Iesu said. “We had no intelligence that he could be in Milan.”

He failed to produce any identification so the police requested he empty his pockets and his small backpack. He pulled a loaded gun from his bag and shot at one of the men, lightly wounding him in the shoulder.

Amri then hid behind a nearby car but the other police officer managed to shoot him once or twice, killing him on the spot, De Iesu said. Amri was identified by his fingerprints.

Anis Amri’s death outside a train station in a northern suburb of Milan brought to a dramatic end to a journey that saw Europe’s most wanted man travel apparently unimpeded 1,000 miles across Europe.

Despite being wanted by police and intelligence services across the continent as the suspected driver of the lorry which killed 12 people and injured dozens of others after ploughing through a Berlin Christmas market, Amri was able to travel across three frontiers with apparent ease.

But his death in northern Italy, miles from the attack, has once again raised troubling questions as to how easily terrorists are able to take advantage of mainland Europe’s open borders.

It was only the quick thinking of the two Italian police officers who stopped him in the Sesto San

Sceptics of Europe’s open borders policy, which saw the dismantling of border controls and frontier checkpoints, will say that once again terrorists have been able to take advantage of lax security.

Already the leader of the French far-right National Front, Marie Le Pen, has seized on Amri’s ability to cross from one country to another to drive home her anti-open borders message.

“This escapade in at least two or three countries is symptomatic of the total security catastrophe that is the Schengen agreement,” she said.

Nigel Farage, Ukip’s former leader wrote on Twitter: “If the man shot in Milan is the Berlin killer, then the Schengen Area is proven to be a risk to public safety. It must go.”

The European Union’s 31-year-old Schengen open-borders accord allows passport-free travel between continental EU states – except for newer members Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia – as well as Switzerland.

Some EU countries, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, reimposed selective border checks last year to help cope with a large influx of migrants fleeing war and deprivation in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.