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| Archive images of the suspect have been released (THINKSTOCK) |
A manhunt is under way across Europe after prosecutors identified a suspect in the deadly lorry attack on a Berlin Christmas market.
German prosecutors named the man they are searching for as Anis Amri, 23, from Tunisia, warning he could be armed and dangerous.
His residence permit was found in the cab of the lorry.
It has emerged that he was reported to counter-terrorism police last month and had been facing deportation since June.
The German authorities are offering a reward of up to €100,000 (£84,000; $104,000) for information leading to his arrest.
Reports suggest he may have been injured in a struggle with the lorry driver, found murdered in the cab. The attack claimed 12 lives in all.
Police are searching a migrant shelter in the Emmerich area of North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, where the suspect's permit was issued.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has met her security cabinet to discuss the investigation into the attack.
'Identified as a threat'
The warrant lists six different aliases used by Anis Amri, who at times tried to pass himself off as an Egyptian or Lebanese.
He is reported to have travelled to Italy in 2012 and then on to Germany in 2015 where he applied for asylum and was granted temporary leave to stay in April of this year.
Ralf Jaeger, the minister of interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Wednesday that the claim for asylum had been rejected in June but the papers necessary for deportation had not been ready.
"Security agencies exchanged their findings and information about this person with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre in November 2016," the minister said.
Germany's Spiegel news magazine reports that the suspect was "classified as a so-called danger, a police category of people who are suspected of being capable of an attack, and who were therefore regularly checked".
Tunisia, Mr Jaeger said, had denied Anis Amri was its citizen, so the authorities had had to wait for temporary passport documentation from Tunisia.
"The papers arrived today from Tunisia," Mr Jaeger added.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports that the suspect moved within the circle of an Islamist preacher, Ahmad Abdelazziz A, known as Abu Walaa, who was arrested in November.
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| A French version of the European Arrest Warrant issued for Anis Amri (GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTRY) |
"Security agencies exchanged their findings and information about this person with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre in November 2016," the minister said.
Germany's Spiegel news magazine reports that the suspect was "classified as a so-called danger, a police category of people who are suspected of being capable of an attack, and who were therefore regularly checked".
Tunisia, Mr Jaeger said, had denied Anis Amri was its citizen, so the authorities had had to wait for temporary passport documentation from Tunisia.
"The papers arrived today from Tunisia," Mr Jaeger added.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports that the suspect moved within the circle of an Islamist preacher, Ahmad Abdelazziz A, known as Abu Walaa, who was arrested in November.
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