Europe

Official: deporting Berlin attacker's friend understandable

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2016 file photo Christmas decoration sticks in the smashed window of the cabin of a truck which ran into a crowded Christmas market Monday evening killing several people in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2016 file photo the trailer of a truck stands beside destroyed Christmas market huts in Berlin, Germany the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed several people. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)

Germany's top security official says it's "thoroughly understandable" that authorities deported a friend of Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri weeks after the deadly rampage.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters Thursday that a probe into the circumstances of Bilel Ben Ammar's deportation showed authorities had no evidence he was involved in the attack that claimed 12 lives on Dec. 19, 2016.

The probe was ordered following recent media reports that Ben Ammar had ties to Moroccan intelligence and may have been at the Christmas market shortly after the attack. Seehofer said there was no evidence for either claim.

Opposition lawmakers want to interview Ben Ammar, who was deported to Tunisia on Feb. 1, 2017, after being deemed a security threat. Seehofer said German authorities don't know his current whereabouts.