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ISIS has confirmed that the bloodthirsty commander of its Sinai arm in Egypt has been killed in an airstrike in the latest issue of its weekly Al-Naba magazine.

The death of Abu Du’a al-Ansari had previously been announced by Egyptian Brig. Gen. Muhammad Samir, the official spokesman of Egypt's armed forces.

The general described Ansari in August as “the leader of the [Ansar] Bayt al-Maqdis organization.”

Several of al-Ansari's deputies were also killed in the strike, Samir said.

It is unclear what will happen to the branch, known as Wilayat Sinai, following the strike.

(Image: MoD)

Najeh Ibrahim, an expert in Islamist movements, told Al-Monitor, “The organization is rooted in desert, borderland environments. It began in 2003, founded by a dentist known as Khalid bin Masa’id, with the help of Usama al-Mahlawi and Nasr Khamis al-Mallah."

It comes as the hunt of the Berlin lorry massacre suspect hots up.

A chilling video has been uploaded online showing him staking out the streets of the German capital just weeks before 12 people were killed in Monday night's Christmas market atrocity.

Anis Amri is at the centre of an international manhunt after Monday night's slaughter in Berlin in which a truck was hijacked and ploughed into wooden stalls and crowds of shoppers.

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The 24-year-old had also reportedly offered himself up as an Islamic State suicide bomber and was learning to make explosive devices.

US officials have revealed he was banned from travelling there amid concerns over his alleged links to the terror group.

In the September video Amri can be seen walking around the centre of Berlin amid claims the clip could have been a reconnaissance video.

It comes amid revelations that police could have acted sooner to arrest and deport Amri who was a failed asylum seeker.

Several German news outlets had claimed Amri was having his phone monitored by security officials and is understood to have been known to security services and even considered a potential safety risk before applying for asylum earlier this year.

German police did not believe they had enough evidence to arrest the suspect despite wire taps revealing a conversation with a hate preacher in which Amri said he was willing to blow himself up.

But the North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger told a news conference: "Security agencies exchanged their findings and information about this person with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre in November 2016"

Police have launched an operation in the state, which is about 300 miles from the German capital, and the country's most populous region that is home to the cities of Dusseldorf and Cologne.

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It has been revealed that the suspect hunted by police was in touch with several radical preachers in the cities of Hildesheim and Duisburg, in North Rhine-Westphalia.

He also appears to be linked to the terror group which allegedly inspired last year's Tunisian beach massacre which left 38 dead.

He also used six different names, under three different nationalities, investigators said.

Jaeger said the suspect had applied for asylum in Germany and his application was rejected in July.

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(Image: REUTERS)

Attempts to deport the man to Tunisia failed as he did not have identification papers, and

the Tunisian authorities disputed whether he was their national.

He had moved from NRW to Berlin in February 2016 and sought to make the German capital his new home, Jaeger said, adding that the Tunisian man sought by police had used different names.

Anis has reportedly been linked to Islamist preacher Abu Walaa who is alleged to have given mosque sermons urging people to travel to Syria and fight for Islamic State.

In June 2016, Anis’s asylum application was rejected and, although he was living in Berlin, his deportation was coordinated with immigration services.

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But he escaped deportation because he ‘did not have any valid identity papers’ and Tunisia originally denied he was a citizen of the country.

The state minister said the papers had arrived today but ‘did not want to comment further on the fact’.

Mr Jaeger also confirmed that not all the victims of the atrocity had been identified yet.

A German newspaper has claimed police are searching for suspect Anis in a migrant shelter.

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They are said to be continuing a huge manhunt near the German border with the Netherlands, according to the Rheinische Post.

And they have turned their attention to the shelter in the town of Emmerich.

It is believed to be the same town in which Anis applied for asylum in April.

Now Mirror Online has uncovered a Facebook profile appearing to belong to the Tunisian that 'likes' another page supporting the radical Islamist group Ansar Al-Sharia.

The network – which has branches in Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Mali – has called for the restoration of Sharia law and is considered a terrorist organisation by the British Government.

Gunman Seifeddine Rezgui who killed 38 tourists on a beach resort in Sousse last year is said to have been groomed by Ansar Al-Sharia.

The group – which has divided support for al-Qaeda and ISIS – was also behind another suicide blast at another beach resort in Sousse in 2013.

The suspect is said to have received permission to stay in Germany in April and was being monitored by the authorities.

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He has also previously committed grievous bodily harm and is thought to be injured after a struggle with the Polish driver of the lorry, according to reports.

Officials are reportedly preparing for "immediate actions" in North-Rhine Westphalia suggesting a new manhunt is imminent after Berlin police said they had received more than 500 tip-offs following the attacks.

He is thought to be 23 years old and from the city of Tataouine but he also uses the name Ahmed A and several other identities, according to Der Spiegel.

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Under German privacy laws his full name and picture have not been released.

Investigators in Berlin made the dramatic breakthrough after finding ID papers under one of the seats in the truck that smashed into the Christmas market.

After the massacre, police arrested a 23-year-old suspect. A witness claimed they had tracked the man, an asylum seeker recently arrived from Pakistan, to a wooded park near Berlin’s Victory Column.

But when quizzed by police yesterday, the suspect denied any involvement, his clothes were not blood-stained and forensics found no gunpowder residue on him, prosecutors admitted.

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A security source told Die Welt ­newspaper: “We have the wrong man. And therefore a new situation. The true perpetrator is still armed, at large and can cause fresh damage.”

Klaus Bouillon, interior minister of the state of Saarland, delivered a grave warning when he said: “We must say that we are in a state of war.”

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the scene of the carnage, added: “There is much we still do not know with sufficient certainty but we must, as things stand now, assume it was a terrorist attack.”