At least nine dead, several injured as lorry ploughs into Berlin Xmas market: Police

Berlin: At least nine people were killed and several injured when a truck ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday evening, the Berliner Morgenpost reported.

German media said police on the ground were saying first indications were that the incident was an attack.

On the other hand, the police said on Twitter - "We can confirm 9 deaths & many others injured. Many police are at the Breitscheidplatz to investigate what happened," as per Reuters.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman said, "We are investigating whether it was a terror attack but do not yet know what was behind it," as per AFP.

Germany has been shaken this year by several assaults claimed by the Islamic State group and carried out by asylum-seekers.

An axe rampage on a train in the southern state of Bavaria in July injured five people, and a suicide bombing wounded 15 people in the same state six days later. 

In another case, a 16-year-old German-Moroccan girl in February stabbed a police officer in the neck with a kitchen knife, wounding him badly, allegedly on IS orders.

The arrival of 890,000 refugees last year has polarised Germany and misgivings run particularly deep in the ex-communist east, even more so since IS-linked attacks in July carried out by Syrian asylum-seekers.

(With Agency inputs)