The Urgency of Addressing Iran’s Nuclear Threat

[rooster59]

German police secure nail-filled package found near Christmas market

 

Police have evacuated a Christmas market and the surrounding area in the German city of Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany, December 1, 2017, to investigate a suspicious object. Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch

 

POTSDAM, Germany (Reuters) - German police on Friday secured a device full of wires and nails found near an outdoor Christmas market in the city of Potsdam, but could not establish whether it had contained explosives.

 

Germany is on high alert for militant attacks, nearly a year after a Tunisian Islamist rammed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people as well as the driver.

 

Police evacuated a large area of Potsdam's old town centre on Friday, including parts of the market, and closed stores while they investigated the package, which had been delivered to a pharmacy.

 

Karl-Heinz Schroeter, interior minister of the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin, said the area would remain shut while police searched with sniffer dogs for any other similar packages.

 

He told reporters that several hundred grams of nails had been found in a metal cylinder inside the package, but added: "We just don't know at this point if this was a device that could have actually exploded, or a fake, or a test."

 

A robot using water jets was used to ensure the device was safe, officials said.

 

Potsdam police said X-rays had shown wires, nails and batteries inside the package, but that no detonator had been found.

 

Christmas markets opened across Germany on Monday at the start of the holiday season, fortified with concrete barriers and security staff to protect shoppers.

 

Germany has around 2,600 such markets, filled with sparkling Christmas trees and wooden stalls serving candied nuts, sausages, mulled wine and handicrafts.

 

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said this week that Germany had increased information-sharing between federal and state officials and taken other steps to increase security after a series of missteps in the Berlin case.

 

A ministry spokesman said this week that the risk of an attack in Germany and Europe remained high.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-02

[Stargeezr]

Hey Europe it will be Christmas this Month and of course this is a Christian event that will no doubt upset the ISIL members who have come back from their failed event in Syria. Have a happy holiday  and good luck.

Geezer

[Ron19]

A troll post has been removed.

9) You will not post inflammatory messages on the forum, or attempt to disrupt discussions to upset its participants, or trolling. Trolling can be defined as the act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet by posting controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.