The terrorist attack in Berlin, this is the author's father: My son was replaced by “Brain” from ISIS

In an interview for the German magazine Der Spiegel, 64-year-old who lives in Lebanon, said he had spoken to his son on the phone just hours before the attack.

He told me that he missed me and that he would like to be with us in Lebanon at the time of”, he confessed.

21-year-old father denied any family connection with I ideology SIS, stressing that they belong to the rain faith.

We're rain, we don't support it. My son radicalized and embraced the Sunite” stream, he said.

Meanwhile, investigations into the attack follow. German police have released Iranian nationals who were initially detained as suspected they could have been in the vehicle used during the attack.

According to Der Spiegel, evidence gathered by investigators did not confirm his suspicions, so he was released from custody. However, authorities have not yet managed to determine whether Ballout acted alone or had associates.

According to the investigation, Abdul Ballout had long radicalised and tried several times to join the terrorist organisation Islamic State. He had been arrested in Lebanon in 2025, while in May 2026 he was sentenced to a year and ten months in prison for planning a serious act of violence against the state. After his release from prison, he was placed under surveillance and could be included in a door - to - door program.

Investigators suspect Ballout had rented the white van he ran into the crowd of participants at the Tiergarten Parade. A mobile phone was also found inside the vehicle, which, according to authorities, was linked to 21-year-olds.

Due to allegations of an Islamist motive attack, the case has been taken into investigation by Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office.

A woman lost her life from the attack, while 29 people were wounded. According to authorities, after he ran into a tree, Ballout stepped out of the vehicle and attacked several passersby with choppers before leaving the scene.

He was later located in a communitarian garden in the Spanish district of Berlin, where he was shot to death by police after attacking the effective during the operation for his arrest. /Panorama