Berlin Christmas market suspect Anis Amri shot dead in Milan, Italy

The minister told a press conference in Rome that Anis Amri had been fatally shot after firing at police who had stopped his car for a routine identity check around 3am local time (1pm AEDT).

Identity checks had established “without a shadow of doubt” that the dead man was Amri, the minister said

The Sun reported he was said to have screamed “Allahu Akbar” and shot and injured an officer before being shot dead.

It comes as new video taken from a car’s dashcam shows the horror about to unfold in the Christmas markets in Berlin, which resulted in the deaths of 12 people, and left 56 others with injuries.

In the footage, traffic near the market has come to a standstill as a truck speeds through an intersection moments before its driver ploughs into the crowded markets.

It’s the first live footage of the incident, which resulted in Christmas markets throughout the world tightening their security.

Berlin suspect shot dead

It emerged on Friday that prime suspect Anis Amri offered to carry out suicide attacks for Islamic State, the 24-year-old fugitive was recorded by the security services making the offer to a hate preacher two months ago, sources revealed.

But in yet another blunder by the German authorities, which were monitoring his movements, he was left at large.

It also emerged that Amri was sentenced to five years in absentia in his home country of Tunisia for an armed robbery.

He was reportedly given a jail term there in 2010 for stealing an HGV similar to the one used to murder 12 and injure 56 at the Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night.

A video uncovered from one of Amri’s Facebook accounts shows him walking the streets of the German capital in the run-up to the atrocity.

It is claimed it could have been a reconnaissance video as final preparations were being made for the truck rampage.

The Facebook account also carried a picture of a lion — a key motif used by jihadists to symbolise honour. According to intelligence sources Amri may have been planning the attack since the spring.

The Telegraph reported that Amri showed off the twinkling Christmas lights of Berlin just weeks before his alleged rampage.

Amri’s sister, Najwa, said: “He said he had parked his bike somewhere and was walking around saying ‘let me show you the lights in the streets that people put up for Christmas’, then he just said, let’s talk later, I can’t find my bike anymore’.”

US officials say the suspect, who has six aliases, three fake passports and repeatedly tried to change his appearance, was also learning how to make bombs and was barred from flying to America.

Workers install concrete blocks as a security barrier on the periphery of the reopened Breitscheidplatz Christmas market. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images