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Merkel thanks Italy after terror suspect shot dead in Milan

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Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday thanked the Italian authorities for shooting dead Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri in Milan.


The suspect — 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri — travelled to Italy from Germany via France, taking advantage of Europe’s open-border Schengen pact to cross the continent undetected.


As anger grew over the fact that Amri had escaped expulsion twice in 18 months thanks to bureaucratic loopholes, eurosceptic parties called for the reintroduction of border controls, while Germany said deportations had to be made easier.


Amri is suspected of ploughing a truck through a festive Berlin market on Monday, killing 12 people.


In a video released on Friday after his death, he is seen pledging his allegiance to militant group IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.


Amri had arrived in Milan’s main railway station from France at 1.00 am (0000 GMT) and then travelled to the working class suburb of Sesto San Giovanni, where two young policemen approached him because he looked suspicious idling on a street.


Milan police chief Antonio De Iesu told a news conference his men had no idea that they might be dealing with Amri.


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