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The Limbecker Plat centre in Essen was put put in lockdown after police received "concrete indications about a possible attack." Now it has emerged multiple bombers were believed to have been planning the attack - with links to the sick death-cult Islamic State. Security officials said the call for the attack came from a jihadi fighter in Syria, who was originally from the town of Oberhausen, near Essen in north-west Germany.

Security officials said he had attempted to organise a "hit squad" online, made up of jihadi fighters both inside and outside Germany. They said it was unclear exactly how many people he had motivated online to carry out the attack. The man had been monitored by German police for a long time, officials revealed. Yesterday two men with links to the terrorist were questioned and had their home searched. Police later clarified they weren’t suspects in the attempted attack but had been investigated as they may have been in touch with the suspect prior to the incident yesterday.

REUTERS The shopping centre serves 60,000 people every day

REUTERS Officers have sealed off the busy centre

Police described the lockdown as a “major” operation, with a huge emergency presence including sniffer dogs rushed to the scene yesterday. In a statement, a North Rhine Westphalia Police spokesman said: "The current state of our investigations points to the threat being exclusively at the shopping centre." "In order to avoid possible danger to visitors, they will not be able to enter the shopping halls or the car park." The shopping centre is made up of around 170 shops and eating outlets, serving around 60,000 customers every day.

GOOGLE Police confirmed only Limbecker Platz centre was affected

Writing on its Facebook page, the centre said the measure are necessary to “foil possible threats to our visitors". Several staff had arrived to open up their respective stores when the alert began but were quickly evacuated from the building. Christoph Wickhorst, spokesman for the Essen police, said: "The reference refers exclusively to the Limbeckerplatz."

REUTERS Officers say they have received a "concrete" threat

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the country after seven people including two police officers were injured when a man wielding an axe went on the rampage at a train station in Dusseldorf. Authorities named the suspect arrested at the scene as a 36-year-old from Kosovo called Fatmir H, but German police stressed he is believed to be mentally ill and there are no 'terror' connections. And Germany is already on high alert following the Berlin Christmas market attack in December, which killed 12 people.

REUTERS The shopping centre has around 170 shops and eating outlets