Berlin truck attack suspect shot dead in Italy's Milan: Reports

Berlin: The Tunisian man, believed to be the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack was killed in a shoot-out Italy's Milan on Friday, reports said.

According to the reports, the suspect, Anis Amri, was stopped in his car around 3 am for what was a routine identity check. He pulled out a pistol and shootout ensued in which he was shot.

Police in Germany were searching for a Tunisian man in relation to the Berlin Christmas market attack.

A residence permit was found in the truck that on Monday ploughed through a crowd, killing 12 and injuring 48. The man was identified by the magazine as Anis A., a 24-year-old Tunisian who could be using two different aliases.

Prosecutors had issued a Europe-wide wanted notice for 24-year-old Anis Amri, offering a 100,000-euro ($104,000) reward for information leading to his arrest and warning he "could be violent and armed".

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.