01 centro shopping mall
German police foil alleged mall attack
00:45 - Source: CNN

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Two brothers from Kosovo have been arrested in alleged terror plot

Police: The men were planning an attack on the Centro in Oberhausen

CNN  — 

Police in Germany say they have foiled a possible terror plot to attack Europe’s largest shopping mall and a popular Christmas market in the western city of Oberhausen.

Two brothers from Kosovo, aged 28 and 31, are “suspected to have planned an attack on the CentrO in Oberhausen,” Essen police said in a statement released Friday.

The arrests come on the heels of Monday’s truck attack on the Christmas market in Berlin, which left 12 people dead and 48 injured. A manhunt for the suspected attacker, 24-year-old Anis Amri, is underway.

Police patrol inside the Christmas market area and past the destroyed booths two days after an attack with a truck in front of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin on December 21, 2016.
German police on December 21, 2016 stepped up their hunt for the driver of a truck that ploughed through a Berlin Christmas market, in a deadly assault claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
New video shows truck speeding toward market
02:29 - Source: CNN

There is no official word linking the two events.

The two men were arrested in the city of Duisburg – about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Oberhausen, police said.

The arrests were made hours after officers received “a relevant tip from security circles,” the statement said. An investigation is ongoing into how advanced the suspect’s plot may have been and who else may be involved, police said.

Journalist Laura Goehler contributed to this report.