23 Dec 2016

Berlin truck attack suspect remains in city - police

9:18 pm on 23 December 2016

The Tunisian suspected of killing 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market was filmed by police in the city shortly after the attack and investigators believe he is still hiding in the German capital, media reported on Friday.

A policeman walks at the Christmas market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), the day after a terror attack, in central Berlin, on December 20.

Investigators believe Anis Amri, suspected of driving the truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market killing 12, is still in the city. Photo: AFP

The 24-year-old suspect, Anis Amri, was caught on camera by police officers on a regular stake-out at a mosque in the Moabit district early on Tuesday only a few hours after the attack, rbb public broadcaster reported.

Amri was not a suspect at that time, and on Thursday morning, when police raided the mosque, they could not find him, rbb said.

Investigators believe Amri is still lying low in Berlin because he is probably wounded and would not want to attract attention, Der Tagesspiegel, reported citing security sources.

A spokesman for the Federal Public Prosecutor office was not immediately available to comment on the reports. A Berlin police spokesman delined to comment.

Tunisian suspect Anis Amri.

Tunisian suspect Anis Amri. Photo: AFP

In the early hours of Friday morning, special forces arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on a shopping mall in the city of OberhausenIn in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police said in a statement.

The men - two brothers from Kosovo, aged 28 and 31 - were arrested in the city of Duisburg on information from security sources, they said.

A police spokesman said there was no connection between the Duisburg arrests and the Amri case, which has been claimed by Islamic State.

Amri had been identified by security agencies as a potential threat and had had his application for asylum rejected, but authorities had not managed to deport him because of missing identity documents. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin and Anneli Palmen in Duesseldorf; Editing by Louise Ireland)

-Reuters

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