Thread: German Christmas market evacuated after improvised nail bomb is found

German Christmas market evacuated after improvised nail bomb is found

Police are on the scene in Potsdam after a suspicious device was found nearby

It was delivered to a pharmacist but reported as suspicious because it had wires

The suspicious device was reported to be 20 inches long and 16 inches wide

By Iain Burns For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 16:22 GMT, 1 December 2017 | UPDATED: 14:03 GMT, 2 December 2017

A German Christmas market was evacuated last night after a suspected nail bomb was found.

Hundreds were rushed from the market in Postsdam near Berlin after a can with protruding wires was found near a pharmacy as police combed the area for other bombs.

Police investigating if the bomb was fake last night said they had not found a detonator but are still analysing.

Brandenburg state police said on Twitter on Friday night that it contained 'a cylindrical object with cables, batteries and nails, but at this point no ignition device has been found.'

Authorities previously said that the package also contained a powder, but that it hadn't been determined whether it was an explosive substance or something else.

The Christmas market was up and running as normal today as police said it was 'unlikely' that it was the target of the suspicious package.


The Christmas market was up and running as normal today as police said it was 'unlikely' that it
was the target of the suspicious package


It was first delivered to a pharmacy but was reported as suspicious by an employee who opened it
and found wires inside, local media reported. Pictured: Police on the scene now


Police have now defused the bomb after having cordoned-off the area. Pictured: Police at the scene

Brandenburg's interior minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter said experts were trying to determine whether it was a viable device or an elaborate hoax.

Officers were assessing 'whether the device was actually capable of causing an explosion or not'.

He added: 'There were apparently not only nails but also powder in the canister, and that must be investigated, could it be plaster, or something that doesn't explode or is it something explosive.'

He said results of tests to determine the device's viability may not be completed this evening.

He added: 'We just don't know at this point if this was a device that could have actually exploded or a fake or a test.'


Police confirmed the object was a bomb but were unable to say if it was booby-trapped.
Pictured: Police seal off the area


Police tape across a road in Potsdam after the bomb scare. In the background, the lights of the market can be seen


Police are currently on the scene, having cordoned off the area around a suspicious object. Pictured:
The market late last month

Germany remains a target for jihadist groups, in particular because of its involvement in the coalition
fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and its deployment in Afghanistan since 2001. Pictured: the scene tonight

In a tweet, Brandenburg police said earlier: 'The IED-suspicion has been confirmed.

'The affected area in the city center must be cleared. Please pay attention to our announcements via loudspeaker.'

Police added, however, that they could not initially confirm if the bomb was booby-trapped.

Roads around the market were also closed.

The bomb was reportedly 20 inches long and 16 inches wide.

Local media said police were alerted around 1:30 p.m.

Police announced on Twitter about three hours later that the object had been defused.

Germany is on high alert for potential terrorist attacks after last year's deadly attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.

Potsdam is about 15 miles southwest of the German capital Berlin.


Germany's security services estimate there are around 10,000 Islamic radicals in Germany, some
1,600 of whom are suspected of being capable of using violence. Pictured: The market tonight


And at the end of October, German police arrested a 19-year-old Syrian identified only as Yamen A
suspected of planning a 'serious bomb attack' using powerful explosives. Pictured: A police van at the market


Potsdam is about 15 miles southwest of the German capital Berlin. Pictured: The city's market tonight
after the bomb was found

The attacker, Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri, hijacked a truck and murdered its Polish driver before killing another 11 people and wounding dozens more by ploughing the heavy vehicle through the festive market in the centre of the city.

He was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later while on the run.

Germany has since been targeted again in attacks with radical Islamist motives.

In July 2017, a 26-year-old Palestinian asylum seeker wielding a knife stormed into a supermarket in the northern port city of Hamburg,
killing one person and wounding six others before being detained by passersby.

German prosecutors said the man likely had a 'radical Islamist' motive.


Armed police officers stand in the inner city during the opening of the traditional Christmas market earlier this week


Germany is on high alert for potential terrorist attacks after last year's deadly attack on a Christmas
market in Berlin. Pictured: Potsdam Christmas market late last month

And at the end of October, German police arrested a 19-year-old Syrian identified only as Yamen A suspected of planning a 'serious bomb attack' using powerful explosives.

IS also claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in 2016, including the murder of a teenager in Hamburg, a suicide bombing in the southern city of Ansbach that wounded 15, and an axe attack on a train in Bavaria that left five injured.

Germany remains a target for jihadist groups, with some saying that is because of its involvement in the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and its deployment in Afghanistan since 2001.

German troops in the anti-IS coalition do not participate in combat operations but support it through reconnaissance, refuelling and training.

Germany's security services estimate there are around 10,000 Islamic radicals in Germany, some 1,600 of whom are suspected of being capable of using violence.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has allowed in more than one million asylum seekers in the past two years - a decision that has driven the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which charges - along with many in the mainstream - that the influx spells a heightened security risk.

German Christmas market evacuated after EXPLOSIVES are found

When are the German citizens going to FIGHT BACK against dumping refugees and illegal aliens in their Country!

Do not ask the USA for our blood or treasure to fight your battles this time!

If you do not do something now...you will regret it!

Load up barges and start shipping them OUT!

MASS CHAIN DEPORTATION OF ALL OF THEM