A fire broke out on this afternoon on the roof of the Europa-Center, a landmark shopping centre in western Berlin, a spokesman at the fire department in the German capital said.

He said it was too early to say what had caused the fire, which appears to have engulfed the roof of the building in the Charlottenburg district, whose high-end shopping streets and palace are major tourist attractions.

There were no reports of injuries.

Pictures and video published on social media showed flames and smoke rising from the top of the 20-storey Europa-Center, which was built in the early 1960s after the Berlin Wall was erected.

It is recognisable by a rotating Mercedes-Benz star, which made it an icon of capitalist West Berlin.

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