A black tractor trailer rammed into a crowded Christmas market at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin on Monday evening, killing 12 people and injuring at least 48.

The lorry mounted the curb in at least 40mph speed, plowed through the gathered crowd of locals and tourists who were in the market for shopping, and mulled wine and delights.

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"There's no way it was an accident," Emma Rushton, a witness of the incident, told CNN as she recalled how the truck did not slow down.

The lorry involved had a Polish license plate, but an investigation is still ongoing on where it originated and who the driver was, police spokeswoman Kerstin Ziesmer said.

Ariel Zurawski, the owner of the truck company, told a CNN affiliated TV news network that the truck was loaded with steel shipment and may have been stolen from a construction site. He last spoke with the driver around noon who said he was in Berlin and scheduled to unload Tuesday morning.

A passenger identified with a Polish nationality was among the casualty as the truck crashed into the shoppers, while a suspected man who was on foot about a mile and a half away from the crash site was arrested, Berlin police spokesman Winfried Wenzel said.

The suspect has been named by German media reports as Naved B, a 23-year-old asylum seeker of Pakistani origin. The refugee entered Germany on New Year's Eve of last year and registered with Berlin authorities last February.

Berlin's top security official, State Interior Minister Andreas Geisel, said officials are investigating the crash as an act of terrorist attack. Following the mid-year attack in the city of Nice in France that killed 86 and injured over 200, ISIS and al-Qaeda have called on followers to use trucks to attack public areas.

The Christmas market is a popular attraction located in Breitschedplatz in the western part of the city. It will remain closed on Tuesday as a sign of respect to the victims.

The Interior Ministry announced that other markets and Christmas festivities will continue across the entire country with increased security measures.

Neighboring European countries are reviewing security plans for the holiday following the Berlin attack and Russian ambassador assassination in Ankara.

TagsBerlin Germany, Christmas Market, Terrorist attack