Police probe possible explosive near German Xmas market

POTSDAM, Germany: German police on Friday were investigating a possible explosive device close to a Christmas market in Potsdam, reviving fears of a repeat of last year’s terror attack that struck at the height of the festive season.

The device was uncovered in a package found at a pharmacy just off the Christmas market in central Potsdam, a picturesque city near Berlin.

Police said a pharmacist had sounded the alert after finding a canister with wires inside the package.

Investigators initially said in a tweet that “suspicions of an unconventional explosive device have been confirmed.”

But Brandenburg interior minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter later said a probe was still ongoing to determine “whether the device was actually capable of causing an explosion or not.”

Police found a canister filled with nails and powder, batteries and wires in the package, as well as a powerful firework of a type not allowed in Germany.

But investigators added that there was no sign of a detonator inside.

After clearing parts of the city centre and Christmas market, bomb disposal units defused the device shortly before 6pm (1700 GMT).

Schroeter said officers were combing the area to check if other similar packages had been deposited. It was unclear whether the pharmacy or the market were the target.

“Both options are possible,” he added.

What is clear is that the incident, coming on the eve of the first Advent weekend, has sparked fear.

Christmas market organiser Peter Klemm told broadcaster NTV: “It’s not easy when you’re on the scene, we’re shocked. But the people here understand what’s going on and take the measures very seriously.”

“I’ve always felt safe in Potsdam. Now that feeling of security is ebbing away,” local resident Ingeborg Reetz told mass-market daily Bild.

Meanwhile, baker Erich Schroeter had kept his shop open for people displaced by the evacuation.

“We wouldn’t just put people out into the cold,” he said.

Germany has been on high alert for possible jihadist attacks after last December’s deadly assault at a Christmas market in central Berlin. — AFP