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Itongadol.- The badly beaten body of a young man carrying an Israeli passport was found in the ruins of a Franciscan church in central Berlin earlier this week, it emerged on Wednesday.
Passersby found the body sprawled behind a stone wall next to an iron fence near Alexanderplatz, across from a courthouse in the Mitte neighborhood. The area is known to be frequented by homeless and alcoholics.
The passport found in the man\’s pocket contained full identification details, but the Berlin Police said it was not entirely clear whether the passport belonged to the victim as the body had been beaten too severely to be properly identified.
"The man\’s face was destroyed beyond recognition," a police investigator told the German tabloid Bild.
Berlin police have released an official statement requesting public assistance in the murder investigation and calling on anyone who may have visited the church area over the Easter holiday between 8 P.M. Saturday and 6 A.M. Sunday and seen something unusual to contact investigators immediately.
The Israeli embassy in Berlin has been updated on all of the details and is dealing with the incident.