THE LEADER of Stroud District Council has confirmed he is safe in Berlin after a lorry crashed into a Christmas market in a suspected terrorist attack.

Cllr Steve Lydon (Lab, The Stanleys) is visiting family in the German capital, but he has been in touch with friends to reassure them they are safe and well.

Cllr Paul Denney wrote on Facebook: "Steve Lydon and family are safe in Berlin."

John Bloxsom, secretary of Stroud Constituency Labour Party, said Cllr Lydon arrived in Berlin early on Monday and is planning to stay there for the week.

He said he had spoken to him this morning.

Twelve people have died and a further 48 injured when the vehicle rammed into the market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Monday evening.

Security sources believe the driver of the articulated lorry - which had Polish number plates - was an asylum seeker from Pakistan or Afghanistan, thought to have come to Germany in February, German media reported.

A "suspicious person", thought to be the driver, was arrested near the scene, authorities said.

Special forces police are reported to have stormed a refugee accommodation centre in a hangar at Berlin's old Tempelhof airport.

Berlin Police said on Twitter on Tuesday morning that the incident was intentional and a suspected act of terrorism.

"Our investigators are working on the assumption that the truck was intentionally driven into the crowd at the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz," the post said.

"All police measures concerning the suspected terror attack at Breitscheidplatz are being taken with great speed and the necessary care."

The force added: "A suspicious person was arrested near #Breitscheidplatz. Whether it is the driver of the truck, is currently under consideration.

"Currently, there are no indications of further dangerous situations in the city near #Breitscheidplatz."

Berlin Police spokesman Thomas Neundorf said a passenger in the lorry - who officials later confirmed was a Polish national - was among those killed.

The truck carried Polish number plates and investigators would work to determine whether it was stolen or driven legally, Mr Neundorf added.

The Polish owner of the truck, Ariel Zurawski, told TVN24 he feared the vehicle may have been hijacked and said "they must have done something to my driver".

Photographs from the scene showed the black lorry askew across a road, surrounded by debris from smashed Christmas market huts and stalls.

Broken remnants of a hut were lodged in the cab's shattered window alongside a Christmas tree, its lights dangling down in front of the lorry's grill.