BERLIN/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - German police are looking for an asylum-seeker from Tunisia after finding an identity document under the driver’s seat of a truck that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market and killed 12 people, officials and security sources said on Wednesday.

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.

In Duesseldorf, Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), said the Tunisian appeared to have arrived in Germany in July 2015 and his asylum application had been rejected.

He seemed to have used different names and had been identified by security agencies as being in contact with an Islamist network. He had mainly lived in Berlin since February, but was recently in NRW, Jaeger added.

After being turned down for asylum, the man should have been deported but could not be returned to Tunisia because his documents were missing, he said.

“Tunisia at first denied that this person was its citizen,” said Jaeger, adding that German authorities started the process of getting new identity papers in August 2016. “The papers weren’t issued for a long time. They arrived today.”

A judicial source told Reuters that German authorities had observed Amri over a period this year to try to determine whether he had planned a robbery to fund the purchase of automatic weapons for a possible attack with accomplices.

Authorities stopped their monitoring activities because they could not prove their suspicions, the source said.

QUESTIONS

The new details have added to a growing list of questions about whether security forces missed opportunities to prevent the attack, in which a 25-tonne truck mowed down shoppers and smashed through wooden huts selling gifts, mulled wine and sausages in the deadliest attack on German soil since 1980.

Christmas markets have been a known potential target for Islamist militants since at least 2000, when authorities thwarted a plot to attack one in Strasbourg, France. And the modus operandi in Berlin was identical to that of a Bastille Day attack in the French city of Nice in July, when a Tunisian-born man rammed a lorry through a seaside crowd and killed 86 people.

The market at the scene of Monday’s attack, at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, stayed shut on Wednesday, but more than 60 other Christmas markets across the German capital re-opened under tightened security.

People protest against an anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) demonstration in front of the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 21, 2016, after a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market in the captial on Monday night. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

“We don’t want to let the terrorists win. If everyone stays away, they are winning,” said tourist Nicki Anning at the Gendarmenmarkt Square in central Berlin.

Berlin authorities said 12 people seriously injured in Monday’s attack were still being treated in hospital.

The pre-Christmas carnage at a symbolic site - under the ruined spire of a church bombed in World War Two - has shocked Germans and prompted security reviews across Europe, already on high alert after attacks this year in Belgium and France.

The possible - though unproven - involvement of a migrant or refugee has revived a bitter debate about security and immigration, with Chancellor Angela Merkel facing calls to clamp down after allowing more than a million newcomers into Germany in the past two years.

Merkel, who will run for a fourth term next year, has said it would be particularly repugnant if a refugee seeking protection in Germany was the perpetrator.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump condemned the Berlin attack on Wednesday, blaming “Islamist terrorists (who) continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad”.

“It’s an attack on humanity and it’s gotta be stopped,” he told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police initially arrested a Pakistani asylum-seeker near the scene, but released him without charge on Tuesday.

The Polish driver of the hijacked truck was found shot dead in the cabin of the vehicle. Bild newspaper said he had been alive until the attack took place. It also quoted an investigator as saying there must have been a struggle with the attacker, who may have been injured.

ISLAMIC STATE CLAIM

Islamic State has claimed responsibility, as it did for the Nice attack.

The Passauer Neue Presse newspaper quoted the head of the group of interior ministers from Germany’s 16 federal states, Klaus Bouillon, as saying tougher security measures were needed.

“We want to raise the police presence and strengthen the protection of Christmas markets. We will have more patrols. Officers will have machine guns. We want to make access to markets more difficult, with vehicles parked across them,” Bouillon told the paper.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told German radio there was a higher risk of Islamist attacks because of the influx of migrants in the past two years, many of whom have fled conflicts in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The task of tracking the suspects and the movements of the truck may be complicated by the relative scarcity of security cameras in public places in Germany, compared with countries such as Britain.

Slideshow (8 Images)

The German cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law to broaden video surveillance in public and commercial areas, a measure agreed by political parties last month after violent attacks and sexual assaults on women.

State surveillance is a sensitive issue in Germany because of extensive snooping by the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany and by the Gestapo in the Nazi era.</s>The German Police were in search of a Tunisian individual in connection to the Berlin Christmas attack. The German Police has now revealed some information about Anis Amri;

A wanted notice was issued by the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which stated that a reward of up to 100,000 euros (about $104,000) was offered for information about the suspect’s whereabouts, and said Amri is “under urgent suspicion.” The notice also said, “If you see this person that we are seeking, inform the police. Please do not put yourself in danger because this person could be violent and armed”.

The German Police were in search of a Tunisian and later on Wednesday, December 21, the suspect in connection was identified as the person who was already arrested in Germany in August with forged documents then released by Judge.

The Islamic State (IS) has said one of its militants carried out the lorry attack on a Berlin Christmas market, which left twelve (12) people dead.

Twelve (12) people have been killed after a lorry ploughed into a huge crowd at a festive market in the German capital of Berlin.</s>Germany has issued a reward of up to 100,000 euros to find the main suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack.

A Europe-wide manhunt has been launched to trace Tunisian Anis Amri, who is believed to be armed and dangerous and has links to Islamic extremists, say investigators.

The failed asylum seeker is suspected of being at the wheel of a hijacked 25-tonne lorry which ploughed into a crowd of shoppers at a busy market in the German capital.

Twelve people were killed and 48 others injured in Monday evening’s attack, which has been claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.

Authorities have issued a European arrest warrant for 24-year-old Amri, who is thought to have used six different aliases and three different nationalities.

He was known to police and detectives have raided two Berlin apartments but did not find him, said the Die Welt newspaper.

Amri, who arrived in Germany in July 2015, had been considered a possible terror threat by the country’s authorities before this week’s crash, according to an official.

The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Ralf Jaeger, said security agencies exchanged information about this person in the joint counter-terrorism centre, the last time in November.

German authorities rejected an asylum request by Amri in July.

They prepared to deport him but were not able to do so as he did not have valid identity papers, said Mr Jaeger.

The £84,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the suspected driver being detained.

Documents which were apparently asylum office papers issued to Amri were found in the truck cab, according to German media.

He is described as being 5ft 8in tall, with black hair and brown eyes.

Tunisian anti-terror police have questioned his family who live in the town of Oueslatia.

The original driver of the lorry, Lukasz Urban from Poland, was beaten and stabbed before his vehicle was driven by a hijacker at the market in Breitscheidplatz, it is believed.

Mr Urban, 37, was still alive during the rampage and was then shot dead just before the attacker fled the scene, according to reports.

The gun has not yet been recovered.

A Pakistani asylum seeker who was arrested shortly after the massacre was released by police on Tuesday due to lack of evidence.

In July, some 86 people were killed when a terrorist drove a truck through crowds along Nice’s packed waterfront on Bastille Day.

The massacre was carried out by a Tunisian man living in France.

Read more

:: ‘Everything went dark … there was screaming’

:: Security reviewed at UK Christmas events

:: Christmas markets should have been shut’</s>German authorities on Wednesday named the suspect in the Christmas market truck attack as Anis Amri, and offered a reward of up to 100,000 Euros (104,000 dollars) for information leading to his arrest.

The 24-year-old Tunisian, who had three aliases and came to Germany in July 2015, is the subject of a Europe-wide manhunt as the main suspect in the attack, which killed 12 people and injured another 48.

He was described in official papers as 1.78 metres tall, weighing about 75 kilograms with black hair and brown eyes.

Amri was already under investigation in Germany on suspicion of planning a serious act of violence.</s>German authorities have named Tunisian man Anis Amri as their prime suspect after a truck drove through a Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people, Reuters has reported.

Another suspect, a Pakistani asylum seeker who was known to the German police, was released Tuesday because of a lack of evidence.

In a statement, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed its search for Amri, 24. Authorities have offered a €100,000 (£84,000, $104,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.

"Anis AMRI is 178cm tall and weighs about 75kg, has black hair and brown eyes," the office said in the statement, according to Reuters. "Beware: He could be violent and armed!"

Germany's interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, said earlier on Wednesday that the German police were collaborating with authorities in Europe's Schengen area, where people can move from country to country without a passport, to find Amri. He did acknowledge, however, that Amri may not be the driver behind the attack.

The search turned to the Tunisian after an identification document was found under the driver's seat in the 40-tonne truck behind Monday night's carnage.

At a press conference in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister Ralf Jaeger said that Amri, who arrived in Germany in July 2015, was known to German security agencies. He had apparently been imprisoned in Italy for four years for setting a school on fire prior to arriving in Germany, Reuters reported.

German police, who considered Amri dangerous and suspected he was part of a large Islamic extremist network, first launched an investigation against him on March 14 following a tip from federal security agencies that he may have been planning a terror attack.

Amri had apparently been under covert surveillance as far back as June, German authorities told the Associated Press, when his asylum application was denied and attempts to deport him to Tunisia failed.

Tunisia initially denied Amri was a citizen and did not issue his passport to German authorities until Wednesday — two days after the attack.

ISIS on Tuesday afternoon claimed credit for Monday's destruction, supporting what German and US officials had presumed to be an act of terrorism. The group's Amaq news agency called the truck driver an ISIS soldier who "executed the operation in response to calls to target nationals of the coalition countries."

The truck ran into the market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the Charlottenburg neighbourhood of Berlin at about 8 p.m. local time on Monday. It ploughed through stalls and tables and travelled 50 to 80 metres (164 to 262 feet), according to the Berliner Morgenpost.

A Polish man, named as Lukasz Urban, was found dead in the passenger side of the truck. De Maizière, the German interior minister, confirmed that the man was shot with a shotgun but said the weapon had not been recovered. The man was identified by a cousin who owned the truck company where the man had been a driver.

Amid fears that the attack might have been carried out by migrants, Berliners and refugees gathered to sing "We Are the World" in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm church on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The gathering was a mark of respect for those who died in the attack.</s>The photo which was sent to European police authorities shows Tunisian national Anis Amri who is wanted by German police for an alleged involvement in the Berlin Christmas market attack. (Source: AP) The photo which was sent to European police authorities shows Tunisian national Anis Amri who is wanted by German police for an alleged involvement in the Berlin Christmas market attack. (Source: AP)

Germany on Wednesday offered a reward of up to 100,000 euros ($104,260) for information leading to the arrest of a Tunisian man suspected of involvement in the Berlin truck attack, identifying him as 24-year-old Anis Amri who could be armed and dangerous. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office (GBA) said in a statement that a search for Amri was underway, with support from police forces in all of Germany’s 16 federal states.

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“Anis AMRI is 178 cm tall and weighs about 75 kg, has black hair and brown eyes,” the office said in the statement. “Beware: He could be violent and armed!” Two pictures of Amri were published on the GBA’s website.</s>Two days after a suspected terrorist ran a lorry into a Christmas market in the German capital of Berlin, authorities have released a photo of the suspect.

German police have disclosed that 24-year-old Anis Amri, a Tunisian is responsible for the incident. Amri had earlier monitored earlier in the year on suspicion of armed robbery.

Officials say he is armed and dangerous and are offering a reward of up to €100,000 ($104,000) for information leading to his arrest.</s>A reward of up to 100,000 euro (£84,000) has been offered by German authorities for information leading to the Berlin attack suspect's arrest.

Germany's federal prosecutor's office warned Anis Amri could be "violent and armed" and said he was being hunted by police from all 16 federal states.

Along with releasing two images of the suspect, it described him as 178cm tall (5ft 10) and weighs around 75kg (just under 12lbs) with black hair and brown eyes.</s>Police in Berlin are offering a reward of €100,000 (US$104,260) for information leading to the arrest of the man suspected of involvement in Monday’s attack on a Christmas market which left 12 dead and 48 injured.

A search is currently underway for 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, who could be armed and dangerous, according to a statement from the Federal Prosecutor's Office (GBA).

"Anis AMRI is 178cm tall and weighs about 75kg, has black hair and brown eyes.” according to the statement.

Police raided two apartments in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of the city but failed to locate Amri. Investigators told Die Welt they believed he had been in one of the apartments before they arrived.

Speaking on Tunisian radio, Amri’s father said he left Tunisia seven years ago as an illegal immigrant and spent time in prison in Italy on accusations of burning a school, according to Reuters.

Amri was also suspected of being involved in a violent robbery in Tunisia, according to his father, who the radio station said is being questioned over possible links between his son and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Monday’s attack in Berlin saw a Polish-registered truck driven into a crowd in an attack echoing the Nice massacre of July when 86 people were killed.

Identity documents belonging to Amri were reportedly found inside the truck, according to Der Spiegel.

Suspect tracked by authorities for months, surveillance called off in September

German authorities had been tracking the main suspect in the Berlin attack for months before calling off surveillance operations on the 24-year-old Tunisian, Anis Amri.

Amri arrived in Germany in July 2015, at the height of the refugee influx, after serving a four-year prison term in Italy, Ralf Jaeger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia said, according to AP.

Since February this year the Tunisian was able to move freely around Germany, after registering near the Dutch border. All that time, Amri had been living mostly in Berlin, Jaeger noted.

The main suspect in the attack had been added to a list of potentially violent Islamic extremists. Prosecutors in Berlin even launched an investigation into the potential threat posed by Amri on March 14 following a tip from federal security agencies.

The tip warned that the Tunisian might be planning a possible future attack and had been seeking to purchase automatic weapons. After conducting surveillance for several months, German authorities failed to find evidence to substantiate the claim, calling off surveillance on Amri in September.

"Security agencies exchanged information about this person in the joint counter-terrorism center, the last time in November," said Jaeger.

READ MORE: Berlin market attack: Police searching for Tunisian man after finding ID in truck – reports

Jaeger also revealed that the suspect's asylum application had been rejected in July, but authorities failed to deport him because the 24-year old didn't have valid identity papers. In August migration authorities made an effort to help Amri secure a replacement passport.

"Tunisia at first denied that this person was its citizen, and the papers weren't issued for a long time," Jaeger said."They arrived today."</s>German police are searching for a Tunisian man whose ID document they found in the truck used to attack a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, German media report.

- A Tunisian man has been identified as the prime suspect for the attack which killed 12 people and injured dozens more.

- Officials have confirmed he is called Anis Amri, is 24 years old and a Tunisian citizen. He could be armed and dangerous.

- Police are reportedly on the point of conducting an operation in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in western Germany in relation to the Berlin attack. It seems that his is a search of a refugee centre where Anis A. once resided.

- The AfD are provoking centrist parties by blaming the attack on Merkel. They have called a silent vigil in front of her office.

6.17pm Tunisian anti-terrorism police were on Wednesday questioning the family of Anis Amri, the prime suspect in the deadly truck assault on a Berlin Christmas market, a security official told AFP.

"A unit of the anti-terrorism brigade has questioned the suspect's family," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Tunisian security official said Amri's parents were being questioned. Amri has four sisters and a brother, the source said, but it was unclear if anyone else was being questioned.

The source said Amri had been arrested several times in Tunisia for alleged drug use.

He fled Tunisia to Italy after the 2011 revolution that overthrew longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and spent three years there before travelling on to Germany, the source said.

Contacted by AFP, Tunisia's interior and foreign ministries refused to comment on the case.

5.57pm Federal investigators (BKA) have now made the hunt for the suspect public. He is 24-year-old Anis Amri, a Tunisian citizen. They warn that he could be armed and dangerous. They are offering €100,000 for information that leads to his arrest.

He is described as being 178cm tall, with brown eyes and black hair. He weighs around 75kg.

4.30pm To summarize the events of the day so far and what they mean:

If various news reports about the suspect turn out to be true, the fact that this attack happened is not only a tragedy for the victims and their families, it could also turn into a political scandal.

Tagesspiegel and SZ have reported that the suspect should have been deported from the country months ago. It seems that he applied for asylum under different names and managed to get hold of temporary papers under one of his aliases.

The suspect was taken into custody pending deportation and then released a day later, according to SZ.

He had also already been a suspect in an investigation over a terror plot, but apparently fell off the radar after he moved from western Germany to Berlin.

If he turns out to be the driver of the truck - and his ID was found in the cabin - serious questions will inevitably be asked about how such a man was not stopped before committing this horrible crime.

An analysis piece we published yesterday argued that it is hard for the intelligence community to find lone wolves who are quickly radicalized. But there would be far less excuse for failing to prevent an attack by a man already on the state's radar for more than one offence, including a terror related one.

4.28pm France tightens security checks at German border with suspect still on the loose.

The French interior minister sent a memo to all local police authorities asking them “to take all necessary measures to strengthen controls at the Franco-German border, without delay.”

4.21pm Detectives in NRW had already investigated Anis A, on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism, the state interior minister Ralf Jäger has confirmed.

German media have reported that Anis A. is being hunted for truck attack.

Since February Anis A. had lived in Berlin and police in the two states had exchanged information on the man, the last time being in November.

But at some point he seems to have fallen between the cracks of inter-institutional exchange, the SZ reports.

Jäger also said that "it is far from confirmed" that Anis A. was the driver of the truck

4.17pm Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said police won't be releasing the suspect's name or pictures of him, despite the name of a Tunisian man already circulating widely in the press.

"It is important to us that we have success - therefore we will be searching undercover at first," he said.

Since midnight the man is being searched for across Europe, said de Maiziere.

3.47pm The interior minister in NRW, Ralf Jäger, has confirmed that the suspect was supposed to be deported back to Tunisia. However the case was held up because Tunisian authorities at first refuted that he was a citizen of their country.

"The necessary papers arrived from Tunisia today," SZ reports Jäger saying.

The SZ also reports that the suspect spent a day in detention but was freed again after authorities were not able to ascertain completely his actual identity.

3.06pm Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere confirmed Wednesday that authorities have identified a new suspect in the case.

"There is a new suspect we are searching for - he is a suspect but not necessarily the assailant," he told reporters.

He declined to immediately confirm numerous media reports that the suspect was a Tunisian asylum seeker with links to the Islamic extremist scene.

However a conservative lawmaker at the same news conference, Stephan Meyer, said the suspect was in fact from Tunisia and being watched by police.

"We are apparently talking about a potentially dangerous suspect who was known to authorities and belonged to the Salafist-Islamist scene," he told reporters after a meeting of parliament's interior affairs committee.

Meyer, of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the case underlined his party's drive to see Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria as "safe countries of origin" whose citizens would not normally be granted asylum.

Media reports said asylum office papers believed to belong to the Tunisian man were found in the cab of the 40-tonne lorry used in the attack that killed 12 people.

Germany this year moved to declare Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as safe countries of origin, to raise the bar for asylum requests after last year's record influx of around 890,000 people.

But the bill has been stuck in the upper house for months over human rights concerns in those countries.

2.51pm Tagesspiegel is reporting that the Tunisian man whom police are currently pursuing should have been deported long ago and that several attempts to deport him failed.

The newspaper claims that he had an asylum request rejected in the summer of 2015. It also reports that the temporary papers belonging to him which were found in the truck were filed under a different name.

If this proves to be the case it will add fuel to an already tinder-charged debate on deportations and abuse of the asylum system.

In several high profile crimes this year, the suspects should have already left the country. This was the case for the man who carried out a suicide attack at a bar in Ansbach in July.

It was also true of a rape suspect arrested in Hamburg earlier this month. The Moroccan suspect should have been deported from Lower Saxony, where several thousand people with deportation orders are still living in the state.

Questions will also be asked about how a man who had an asylum request rejected could have then received temporary papers under a different alias.

2.32pm According to a poll by broadcaster RTL and polling firm Forsa, 80 percent of Germans feel safe despite the attack.

Ten percent of respondents said they would not attend big public events out of fear of an attack; 46 percent said they'd go but they'd be worried; 43 percent said security fears would not concern them.

A slight majority (51 percent) said current security measures are adequate for protecting the country

2.28pm Berliners have gathered with refugees at the site of the attack in Breitscheidplatz to send out a signal of solidarity. Signs such as "you will not divide us" were held up, while the crowd sang Silent Night and We are the World, reports Die Welt.

2.14pm Federal investigators (BKA) have confirmed a hacker attack on their "leads" website.

On Tuesday between 5pm and 7.30pm the site crashed and members of the public were not able to provide investigators with evidence such as video footage which could help their enquiry, Spiegel reports.

The BKA say it was a DDoS attack, which crashes servers by overloading them.

2.04pm The interior minister of NRW is set to give a press conference at 3.30pm. Police are following a lead in the area with an operation reportedly imminent. The suspect is known to have stayed at a refugee home in the town of Emmerich in the northwest of Germany's most populous state.

12.58pm The Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz is set to reopen on Thursday, only three days after the attack, according to the federation of festival organizers.

All other Christmas markets in the capital opened again on Wednesday after being closed on Tuesday.

Across the country police have heightened security at Christmas markets, including putting concrete blocks in front of the entrances. Markets and Christmas events across Europe have also seen security measures ramped up, including in Italy, France and Norway.

12.31pm The attack has led to hefty infighting within Germany's government, with the Bavarian CSU threatening to split away from Merkel's CDU after next year's elections if its demands are not fulfilled.

The CSU has linked the attack to the government's refugee policy, while the CDU has been very careful about making any connections before charges have been pressed against a specific individual for the attack.

CSU leader Horst Seehofer says his party will pull out of the government after next year's election if there is no deal on an upper limit on refugees in the coalition agreement. This has been a repeated demand of the CSU, despite the fact the government has brought refugee numbers down to a trickle through various measures including a send-back deal with Turkey.

12.26pm The far-right AfD have called for a silent vigil in front of Angela Merkel's office in Berlin. Leading figures in the party including Alexander Gauland and Björn Höcke are set to attend.

Höcke wrote on Facebook: "Enough is enough! Show your faces in Berlin."

The AfD have been accused by opponents of using the deaths in Berlin for political purposes.

Before a suspect was identified, leading figures in the party on Monday had laid the blame for the attack on the door of Merkel's refugee policy.

12.15pm A report in Bild suggests that the Polish man found dead in the passenger seat of the truck may have prevented a higher death toll.

The tabloid claims to have talked to people familiar with the postmortem who say that he was shot after the rampage.

The body reportedly shows the signs of a fight suggesting that the man, who was the driver of the truck before it was taken over by the attacker, tried to grab the steering wheel away from the attacker.

12.02pm The Süddeutsche Zeitung is reporting that the suspect received permission to stay in Germany in April, but that he was classified as "dangerous" by authorities.

He was under observation and had links to Islamist preacher Abu Walaa, but went underground this month, writes SZ. According to this report he has 8 different identities, one of which he used to apply for asylum.

In November police arrested Abu Walaa along with four other men who are considered to be key links to Isis in Germany.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) information, authorities have long considered Abu Walaa, to be one of the central figures in the German Islamist scene and have described him as "the faceless preacher."

Abu Walaa and his circle have already been linked to a bomb attack on a Sikh temple, which took place earlier in the year. That link has as yet not been proven in court.

11.48am Bild reports that he had several passports, was aged 21-23, known to police for grievous bodily harm. They cite an unnamed source.

According to Die Welt the suspect is 23 years old, used at least four different names, and was known to be dangerous. They also cite unnamed sources. The suspect is thought to be injured.

11.42am Police in North Rhine-Westphalia are preparing "immediate actions" in connection with the Berlin attack, reports DPA.

11.30am The man is reportedly called Anis A. and was born in 1992 in the city of Tataouine.

The identification, a so-called Duldungsbescheinigung - a document giving the man permission to stay in Germany without granting him asylum - was reportedly found under the driver's seat of the truck.

Police have asked federal prosecutors for permission to conduct a nationwide search. Federal investigators are set to give a press conference at 1pm.

On Monday evening a man drove a large truck into a Christmas market in west Berlin killing at least 12 people and injuring almost 50 others. The attacker escaped the scene before police could catch him.

Isis have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the perpetrator followed their call for adherents to attack the countries which are fighting against them in the Middle East.

Isis have not provided evidence they were directly involved in the attack.
German officials offer a reward of up to 100,000 euros ($104,000) for 24-year-old Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, whose identifying information was found in the truck used in the attack.