Germany: Police arrest two men suspected of planning shopping mall attack

Police special forces arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on a shopping mall in Oberhausen in the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police said on Friday.

The suspects, two brothers aged 28 and 31 who were born in Kosovo, were arrested in the city of Duisburg after information provided by security sources, police said in a statement.

It was not clear if there was any connection with Monday's attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people. Police are searching for a Tunisian suspect whose fingerprints were found inside the truck.

The federal prosecutor's office offered a reward of up to 100,000 euros ($104,000) for information leading to the capture of the suspect, whom it identified as 24-year-old Anis Amri. "Beware: He could be violent and armed!" the prosecutor's office said in a statement, in which it described Amri as 1.78 metres (5'8") tall, with black hair and brown eyes.

German police commandos raided two apartments in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg late on Wednesday but did not find Amri, Die Welt newspaper reported, citing investigators. Amri's father and security sources told Tunisia's Radio Mosaique that he had left Tunisia seven years ago as an illegal immigrant and had spent time in prison in Italy.