Police have evacuated a busy Christmas market in Germany after a suspicious object containing explosives was found nearby. The surrounding area in the city of Potsdam, near Berlin has also been evacuated, police said.
Special forces were on site to examine the object, which was described as a package measuring 40 cm by 50 cm that had been delivered to a pharmacy near the market. Police said on Twitter: ‘The suspicion of an improvised explosive device has been confirmed.’ No additional details were immediately available.
Germany is on high alert for potential terrorist attacks nearly a year after a Tunisian Islamic extremist hijacked a truck, killed its driver and then rammed the vehicle into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 more people there. Police were alerted around 2.30pm local time after an employee opened the package at the pharmacy and saw suspicious wires and electronics inside.
They have since said the device has been defused. Christmas markets opened across Germany on Monday at the start of the holiday season, fortified with security staff and concrete barriers to protect shoppers. Germany has some 2,600 such markets, filled with sparkling Christmas trees and wooden stalls serving candied nuts, sausages, mulled wine and handicrafts. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere this week said Germany had increased information-sharing between state and federal officials and taken other steps to increase security after a series of missteps on the Berlin case. An interior ministry spokesman this week said the risk of an attack in Europe and Germany is ‘continuously high’.
No comments:
Post a Comment