Anis Amri, the man believed to be behind the Christmas market in Berlin was killed in a shootout in Milan, Italy’s Interior Minister Marco Minniti said at a press conference in Rome.
1. L’aggressore di Milano fermato da volante del commissariato Sesto San Giovanni durante un normale servizio di controllo del territorio http://pic.twitter.com/GmdIK0M9WS
— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) December 23, 2016
Interior Minister Marco Minniti said during a press conference that Anis Amri, was stopped on foot by police patrols at around 3 a.m. during a routine check in the Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood. When the officers asked Mr. Amri for identification, he pulled out a 22 caliber gun from his backpack and began to shoot. The police returned fire, killing him.
“Without any doubt the person killed is Anis Amri, the man suspected in the Berlin terrorist attack,” Minniti said at a press conference.
“There is absolutely no doubt that the person who was killed is Anis Amri” – Italy’s interior minister Marco Minniti https://t.co/bArceiTFUI http://pic.twitter.com/MMsSh5H5rm
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) December 23, 2016
One police officer was injured, but his injuries are not life-threatening, according to tweets from the police.
Earlier on Friday, Italian authorities said Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan on Thursday night. A short video posted on the website of Italian magazine Panorama suggested the shooting happened before dawn, with police gathered around a cordoned-off area in the dark.
EIL: Anis Amri nach Attentat auf #Breitscheidplatz Dienstag früh in Moabit gesichtet. @rbbabendschau liegen Überwachungsaufnahmen vor. http://pic.twitter.com/SPmdidRiPM
— rbb|24 (@rbb24) December 22, 2016
Conflicting news reports previously suggested the opposite. The German Police claimed that the suspect was hiding in Berlin. On Thursday, RBB released CCTV footage showing him at a local mosque one day after the attack. The police said Amri was injured, and therefore would not risk travelling too far.
German federal police had issued a rare international wanted notice for Mr. Amri—who arrived in Germany last year after time in an Italian prison—and offered a €100,000 ($104,000) reward, warning that he could be armed and dangerous. German authorities have come under criticism over accusations they failed to stop Mr. Amri, a 24-year-old asylum seeker, despite being aware of his radicalization.
As the WSJ adds, since the Monday attack, German security and judicial officials have said they had known about the potential risks he posed for about a year, had put him under surveillance and even detained him briefly, but failed to deport him and later lost track of him. The extent of authorities’ prior knowledge and growing concern about the danger Mr. Amri posed was made even more apparent on Thursday when a senior U.S. official said Germany had notified the U.S. about him. U.S. authorities then added his name to a terrorism watch list.
German officials in November provided more information and U.S. officials decided to put Mr. Amri’s name on a no-fly list, an indication that they believed he posed a more significant threat than they previously thought, the official said.
via http://ift.tt/2ijG8cJ Tyler Durden