BERLIN - The German government on Tuesday asked victims for forgiveness as Berlin commemorates the first anniversary of a deadly terrorist attack on a Christmas market in the capital.

Officials needed to "do things better, which were not done well" a year ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech.

Similarly, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier raised the question of whether "we are really doing everything that we can, within the confines of democracy and the rule of law, to prevent terrorist attacks"?

Steinmeier urged authorities to "clarify omissions" in their investigations into the attack and "learn from mistakes".

Anis Amri, a Tunisian national with radical Islamist views, killed a total of 12 people and injured around 100 others when he drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians at the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market on Dec 19, 2016.

A few days later, Amri was shot dead by police in Italy while seeking to escape from security forces in a Europe-wide manhunt.