German police have launched a manhunt for a suspect who abandoned a bag of explosives at a Berlin train station and ran away after being stopped by police officers.
"We are investigating all possibilities," a police spokesperson said, adding that authorities had not yet been able to identify the suspect.
It was not clear if the incident was being treated as a possible terror attack.
Police said they stopped the man in the German capital's Neukoelln station on Wednesday afternoon.
He fled the scene and explosives were found in the bag he left behind, according to a post on social media platform X.
The bag was brought to a nearby park where a controlled explosion took place, the post added.
The Bild newspaper reported that the bag had contained triacetone triperoxide, an unstable white explosive powder known as TATP and often used in extremist attacks on the public.
Police could neither confirm nor deny the report on the type of explosive.
But one officer, quoted by Berlin's BZ newspaper, said: "If this explosive device had gone off in the vicinity of a group of people, it would have had dramatic consequences.”
Firefighters dug holes in the ground in the park before the bag and its contents were blown up, according to Bild, which reported that the explosion could be heard several hundred metres away.
Dirk Wiese, an MP from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party, was quoted by the Rheinische Post newspaper as saying that police "were obviously able to thwart an attack".
"This clearly shows how high the terror threat is in our country," he added.
In a statement on Thursday, Berlin police said: “With the intention of checking a man at Neukölln S-Bahn station...federal police officers approached him yesterday afternoon.
“During the check, which took place at around 3:30 p.m., the unknown man managed to evade the measure.
“The patrol tried to detain the man and grabbed a cloth bag that he was carrying.
“The man managed to escape...dropped the bag and fled across the tracks in the direction of Lahnstrasse.
“The bag contained, among other things, a package wrapped in adhesive tape, the contents of which were identified as explosives a short time later by the bomb disposal service of the federal police.
“As a result, Berlin police officers who were also alerted to the scene cordoned off a green area on Thomashöhe that was intended for a controlled explosion.
“Berlin fire brigade personnel dug a hole in the ground.
“At around 7:50 p.m., the bomb disposal service of the Federal Police carried out a targeted detonation. No one was injured. Residents were also not at risk at any time.
“It is still unclear why the man was carrying explosives. The ongoing investigations - in particular the search measures to identify and arrest the escaped man with the evaluation of video recordings - are ongoing.”
“The investigation has been taken over by the department of the Berlin Police State Criminal Police Office responsible for explosives offences on behalf of the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office.
