German Police Surround Mall in Dusseldorf, Berlin Attack Suspect Presumed Inside

The German police surrounded a Kaufhaus store after an eyewitness reportedly saw the Berlin attack suspect inside, local media reports. Shortly after it began, however, the operation was over, and the alleged suspect was not found.

Earlier in the day, a photo of alleged suspect in the Berlin market attack was published by the German newspaper Bild.

According to Bild, the police are searching for an Islamist from Tunisia. His name is Anis A., he is 21-23 years old and he has several passports.

After a witness reported he had seen the alleged terrorist, the store Kaufhaus in Dusseldorf was surrounded by the police.

On Monday, a truck rammed into the crowd at the Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48. Police have confirmed the ramming was intentional and detained the suspect, a Pakistani migrant, but he was later released over lack of evidence linking him to the attack. The incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack.

Local media revealed Monday that the German intelligence, even before the recent terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, classified the suspect as a person representing a potential threat to public safety because of ties to extremists

According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, in 2012, the current suspect, Tunisian national Anis A., arrived in Italy, and in 2015 moved to Germany. His asylum application, filed in April, was approved.

The suspect reportedly had a total of eight forged passports, he was briefly detained with one of them in the southern German city of Friedrichshafen, the newspaper said, Anis kept in touch with a network of Islamists in Berlin, headed by Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A, also known as Abu Walaa, who is suspected of recruiting people into Daesh terrorist group, and encouraging them to travel to Syria to join terrorist ranks.

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