Armed police carry out raids as Berlin suspect sought
Anis Amri's fingerprints were found on the lorry, officials confirm, as the market reopens with police on patrol.
Thursday 22 December 2016 20:29, UK
Police have carried out raids across Germany as a Europe-wide manhunt for the main suspect in the lorry massacre continues.
A Muslim association in the Moabit area of Berlin was among the locations raided, according to Berliner Zeitung, which said stun grenades had been used.
Armed police were also seen at a Berlin apartment block overnight and two apartments in Dortmund were searched in the early morning.
"Anis Amri is believed to have been at those places previously. Based on a tip-off, a bus in Heilbronn [southwest Germany] was searched. There have been no arrests."
Tunisian Amri, an asylum seeker known to police, is suspected of driving the hijacked lorry which ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in the German capital.
His fingerprints were found on the cab of the lorry, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere confirmed.
"We can tell you today that there are additional indications that this suspect is with high probability really the perpetrator," said Mr de Maiziere.
Officials said the 24-year-old had come to their attention in March after a tip-off that he might be planning a robbery to raise money for weapons to use in an attack.
They followed him until September, when it was decided there was not enough evidence.
Amri first entered Germany late last year and authorities had been trying to deport him after rejecting his asylum claim in the summer.
Rainer Wendt, the head of a union representing German police, said civilians are "rightly outraged and anxious that such a person can walk around here, keep changing his identity..."
Amri is thought to have used six different aliases and three different nationalities. German newspaper Der Spiegel criticised authorities who "had (Amri) in their crosshairs and he still managed to vanish".
Prosecutors have warned he could be armed and have offered a €100,000 (£84,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.
Amri's brother, Abdelkader, has
He told Sky News Arabia: "When he left Tunisia he was a normal person. He drank alcohol and didn't even pray. He had no religious beliefs...
"He went into prison with a mentality and when he came out he had a total different mentality."
Amri reportedly served jail time in Sicily for setting fire to a building.
He had arrived on Italian soil in February 2011, probably after being rescued at sea from a migrant boat, a senior police source told Reuters.
Twelve people were killed and 56 others injured in Monday evening's attack, which has been claimed by Islamic State.
Among the victims was Lukasz Urban, the original driver of the hijacked vehicle.
A crowd-funding appeal set up by a British trucker to help his family has already raised £60,000, with more than 4,000 people contributing to the fund.
The market reopened on Thursday ringed by concrete bollards, although the section where the truck hit was kept bare.
It has also emerged that two British nationals suffered minor injuries.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Earlier today, German officials informed us that two British nationals had received medical attention for shock and minor injuries and were discharged a short time later.
"We stand ready to provide assistance to any more British nationals caught up in the attack."