Berlin: Underground trains halted and shopping centre closed after suspicious package found

Lockdown not linked to Breitscheidplatz Christmas market attack and subsequent manhunt for suspect Anis Amri

The incident is not being linked by police to the manhunt for Anis Amri over the Christmas market attack (Twitter/@zifkos)

An area of Berlin's underground network has been closed down after a suspicious object was found.

U-Bahn trains are not running in the Prenzlauer Berg quarter in the north east of the capital and its nearby shopping centre has closed.

A police spokesman said officers were called at around 3pm and that the incident is not related to the Christmas market terrorist attack that has devastated the capital.

Officers are reportedly in the busy Schönhauser Allee road, where arcades have closed, between the junctions of Wichert street and Stargarder street.

Eyewitnesses say there are barriers and a police presence.

It follows the terrorist attack in which a lorry killed 12 people and injured at least 50 when it was driven into Christmas market crowds outside the Kaiser Wilhem memorial church.


 'It is not connected [to the terrorist attack]' Twitter/@zifkos
 (Twitter/@zifkos)

Police are hunting for 24-year-old Tunisian man Anis Amri in connection with the tragedy and prosecutors have offered a €100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

His fingerprints were reportedly found on the vehicle's door and asylum documents discovered underneath the truck driver's seat.

Brother Abdelkader Amri said his brother may have been radicalised while serving a prison sentence for setting fire to a school in Italy where he moved during the 2011 Arab Spring.

A Berlin police spokesman told The Independent: "We have closed the street because of a suspect object.

"It is not connected [to the terrorist attack]."