An Isis propaganda magazine calling on followers to carry out a lorry attack like the one in Nice was released one month before this week's incident in Berlin.
Rumiyah, an English-language publication, gloated over the Nice attack in which French-Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove into Bastile Day crowds killing 84 people in July.
It said the attack was a “superb demonstration” of the deadly force of a lorry attack.
The magazine featured instructions such as targeting low-security public events such as “outdoor markets, festivals, parades and political rallies”.
Isis illustrated the article with pictures of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York with one photo bearing the caption “excellent target”.
On Monday an attacker drove a lorry at a Christmas market in Berlin which killed at least 12 people and injured 84 others.
Berlin Christmas market lorry attack
Berlin Christmas market lorry attack
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Several people have been killed after a lorry drove into crowds at a Christmas market in Berlin
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'At least nine' people have been killed and more than 50 injured.
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Emergency Services rush a Berlin market victim to an ambulance
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Police cordoned off the square at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church following the incident
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Rescue workers inspect the lorry that crashed into a Christmas market close to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in Berlin
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Emergency crews inspect the lorry that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing at least nine people
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Fire crews attend the scene of the attack
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Armed police secure the site of a lorry attack at a Christmas market in Berlin
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Crushed debris is visible beneath the wheels of the vehicle
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An injured man is pushed to an ambulance
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Medics attend an injured person after the lorry attack which killed at least nine and injured more than 50 people
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Firefighters examine the lorry which was rammed into a Berlin Christmas market
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A person is carried into an ambulance
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View of the lorry that crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least nine and injuring at least 50 people
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Rescue workers push a person on a stretcher to an ambulance
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Firefighters assess the damage after the lorry rammed the Christmas market, killing 'at least nine', and injuring more than 50 people
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Firefighters stand beside a toppled Christmas tree at the site of the suspected terrorist attack in a Berlin Christmas market
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Damaged stalls at the scene of the incident at a Berlin Christmas market where at least nine people have been killed
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German police are hunting for Tunisian national Anis Amri whose ID was found in the lorry.
It is currently unknown when he came to Germany or where he was allegedly radicalised but Isis’ propaganda service Amaq claimed the attack was “Isis-inspired”.
Amaq called Amri a “soldier of the Islamic State” and used language which matched descriptions of lone wolf attacks in Orlando and Wurzburg.
Following the claim of responsibility, German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere vowed that “nobody would rest until the perpetrator was caught”.
He told German broadcaster ARD: “We just heard about the supposed claim of responsibility by this so-called Islamic State that is in fact a gang of terrorists.
“There are several leads that investigators are following now.”
It follows an embarrassing blunder when they initially arrested a Pakistani asylum seeker and questioned him for several hours before letting him go.