Funeral for Polish victim of Christmas market terror attack

Hundreds of mourners have bid farewell to the Polish truck driver killed in the Berlin Christmas market attack.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Dec 2016, 16:16 BST
Updated 11th Jan 2017, 03:49 BST
The coffin with the body of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver killed in the Berlin Christmas market attack, is carried into the church in Banie, Poland, Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, ahead of the funeral ceremonies. (AP Photo/Lukasz Szelemej)The coffin with the body of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver killed in the Berlin Christmas market attack, is carried into the church in Banie, Poland, Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, ahead of the funeral ceremonies. (AP Photo/Lukasz Szelemej)
The coffin with the body of Lukasz Urban, the Polish truck driver killed in the Berlin Christmas market attack, is carried into the church in Banie, Poland, Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, ahead of the funeral ceremonies. (AP Photo/Lukasz Szelemej)

Lukasz Urban, 37, has been described as the first victim of the attack that killed a total of 12 people in the German capital on December 19.

He had been waiting to deliver a shipment of steel in Berlin when his truck was hijacked by the attacker, believed to be Tunisian man Anis Amri, who was later killed in a shoot-out with Italian police. Mr Urban was shot, and his body was found later in the cab of the truck.

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Poland’s president Andrzej Duda joined Mr Urban’s family, friends and neighbours in a church in the village church in Banie, near the border with Germany.

A letter from prime minister Beata Szydlo was also read out in which she described her “great pain and sadness” and expressed her sympathy to Mr Urban’s family.

“Poles have fallen victim to terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic fundamentalists but the tragedy that happened in Berlin is unique when it comes to the ruthlessness and cruelty of the perpetrator,” Ms Szydlo said.