Berlin attack suspect shot dead in Italy

The Tunisian suspect of the Christmas market attack in Berlin has reportedly been shot dead in Milan.

Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti confirmed that the person shot dead was Anis Amri, the suspect behind Sunday night’s terror attack in Berlin that claimed 12 lives, reports the Guardian.

The minister told a press conference in Rome that Anis Amri had been fatally shot after firing at two police officers who had stopped his car for a routine identity check around 3 am (2 am GMT).

Identity checks had established ‘without a shadow of doubt’ that the dead man was Amri, the minister said.

Even before the official confirmation, Panorama, an Italian news magazine, claimed that Amri was killed on Friday morning in the Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood.

Italian news agency Ansa also reported that the man killed in Milan was the Berlin Christmas market attack suspect.

It said he was shot after he pulled out a gun during a ‘routine road check’ in front of in piazza primo maggio, in front of Sesto San Giovanni station.

Italy had Amri’s fingerprints on file as a result of him having been in prison in Sicily between 2011 and 2015.

Thought to be around 24, he had been on the run since escaping after Monday’s attack.

He had arrived in Italy from his native Tunisia during the Arab Spring in 2011.

Earlier, Germany said it was 'relieved' by reports from Italian authorities that the prime suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack was shot dead by Milan police, and thanked Rome.

Foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Berlin was 'grateful to the Italian authorities for the very close cooperation based on trust'.

Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters