Berlin attacker pledged allegiance to IS in video

Berlin: The Berlin Christmas market attacker pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and called for Islamic State supporters to take revenge of "crusaders" bombing Muslims, a video posted on Amaq news agency showed.

"My message to crusaders bombing Muslims everyday. Their blood will not go in vain. We are a nation behind them and will take revenge for them. I call on my Muslim brothers everywhere. Those in Europe, kill the crusader pigs, each person to their own ability," Amri said.

The suspect, 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, travelled to Italy from France, triggering a spate of criticism from eurosceptics over Europe's open-border Schengen pact.

Italian police shot him dead after he pulled a gun on them during a routine check in the early hours of Friday. A police chief said his men had no idea they might be dealing with Amri when they approached him at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) outside a station in Sesto San Giovanni, a suburb of the northern city of Milan.

Amri is suspected of driving a truck that smashed through a Berlin market on Monday killing 12 people, and security forces across Europe have been trying to track him down.

The truck mowed through a crowd of people and bulldozed wooden huts selling Christmas gifts and snacks beside a famous church in west Berlin.

Militant group Islamic State acknowledged Amri's death and his suspected role in the German attack for which it has claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency.

"The executor of the Berlin attacks carries out another attack on Italian police in Milan and is killed in a shoot-out," it said.