1st LD-Writethru: Police find nail bomb at Christmas market in Germany's Potsdam

BERLIN, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A package found at a Christmas market in the German city of Potsdam has been confirmed as a nail bomb, local police said.

The package contained a "cylindrical object with cables, batteries and nails", but police tweeted that "currently" no detonator had been found.

The police said earlier on Twitter that "the suspicion of an improvised explosive device has been confirmed".

According to the Focus Online, Brandenburg state Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter told reporters near the incident that authorities were still verifying whether that the powder in the package was explosive.

The controlled defusing of the suspicious object was later successfully conducted by the special forces of the German Federal Police in Berlin and Brandenburg.

According to the Potsdamer Latest News, the package, measuring 40 x 50 inches, was delivered to a pharmacy and found by an employee.

The Christmas market was closed and the area has been cleared. The police have set up a blocking circuit at the market, Brandenburg police said earlier.

Christmas markets in Germany are on high alert this year, with strengthened security checks and roadblocks in a bid to avoid deadly terrorist attacks from happening again.

On Dec. 21 last year, a truck driven by a Tunisian Islamist rammed into a Christmas market near Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in downtown Berlin, killing 12 people. Enditem