Italian Police officers work next to the body of Anis Amri
© Stringer / ReutersItalian Police officers work next to the body of Anis Amri, the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack, in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan, Italy December 23, 2016.
Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti has confirmed that Anis Amri, wanted after the truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market, was killed during a shootout with police officers in the suburbs of Milan on Friday.

Minniti told a news conference in Rome that "without any shadow of a doubt" the man was Amri, whose identity has been confirmed by fingerprints.

The minister said the officers were on routine patrol and stopped Amri in a Milan suburb on Friday morning. The man pulled out a pistol and opened fire, injuring one of the officers, but was shot dead as the patrol returned fire. Minniti did not elaborate on the issue, adding that his agency is in contact with the Germans, and further developments may come soon.


Comment: The two policemen were Luca Scata, a rookie on the force (9 months), and Christian Movio, who is currently in stable condition after being shot by Amri in the shoulder. Report by Washington Post:
The 24-year-old Tunisian, Anis Amri, was killed following a dramatic encounter in the Piazza I Maggio in the Sesto San Giovanni area outside Milan, after a two-man patrol stopped him for questioning around 3:15 a.m. on suspicion of burglary.

One of the officers requested his identification. Amri responded by pretending to fish in his backpack for documents. Instead, he pulled a gun, shooting one officer in the shoulder.

Amri, who spoke Italian, then ducked behind a car, shouting "poliziotti bastardi" — or police bastards. The second patrolmen — trainee Luca Scatà — fired back, killing Amri, according to Italian officials.

Sesto San Giovanni train station
Peter Frank, Germany's federal prosecutor, told reporters later on Friday that the investigation is far from over. Investigators will focus on uncovering Amri's contacts to determine if he had accomplices or was a member of a terrorist network.

He added that it is also crucial to know how Amri had got to Italy despite suggestions that his injuries would have prevented him from covering long distances.
amri
© Splash News
Meanwhile, Milan police say they had received no information warning them that Amri could be in the city, according to Reuters.

"We had no intelligence that he could be in Milan," Police Chief Antonio De Iesu said at a news conference. "They had no perception that it could be him, otherwise they would have been much more cautious."

Earlier on Friday, Italian authorities said Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan on Thursday night, according to Reuters, citing a security source. The surprise report first appeared in the Italian magazine Panorama.

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 traveling too far.

On Friday, a man whose appearance matched that of the suspect was spotted in the northern Danish city of Aalborg, local police said in a tweet. According to police, the man, aged between 20 and 30, was "wearing a black hat, glasses, black beard and was unshaven."
Map of Anis Amri escape route
Police warned people to keep away from the area where he was spotted.

Investigators believe that Tunisian suspect Anis Amri was indeed behind the wheel of the truck that plowed into the Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 and injuring 48. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that fingerprints and other "new evidence" made it "highly probable" that Amri was the actual perpetrator of the Monday attack.