German police have arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on a shopping mall – just days after a terror attack at a Berlin Christmas market.

The suspects, two brothers aged 28 and 31 who were born in Kosovo, were arrested in Duisburg in the industrial Ruhr region in the early hours of Friday.

They are suspected of plotting to strike the Centro mall in nearby Oberhausen, in the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Extra police were at the shopping centre and the nearby Christmas market on Thursday evening, according to reports.

Authorities are probing how far along the suspected attack plan was and whether anyone else was involved.


It was not clear if there was any connection with Monday's attack, when a lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring another 48.

Police have been hunting for a Tunisian suspect, identified as Anis Amri, whose fingerprints were found inside the truck.

On Friday, Italian sources said he had been shot dead in Milan.