Two terror suspects arrested in Germany

Two brothers have been arrested in the German city of Duisburg on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Special forces arrested the 28 and 31-year-old Kosovo-born pair in the western German city of Duisburg early Friday on suspicion of planning an attack on a shopping centre in Oberhausen.

"We're urgently investigating how far the preparations had got and whether more people were involved," police say.

The news comes as police hunt a Tunisian man believed to have been behind the wheel of a truck that ploughed through a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring dozens.

According to police in Duisburg, a tip-off from a security source led authorities to beef up their presence in Oberhausen's Centro shopping centre and the neighbouring Christmas market.

Earlier, police had spoken of an armed operation at the shopping centre lasting several hours, but gave no details on the exact nature of the deployment.

"We can't comment on that at the moment," a police spokesman said at the time.

Shortly afterwards the arrest of the two men was announced.