GERMAN police are dealing with a suspected hostage situation involving a child at Hamburg Airport, according to local authorities.
The airport closed for all takeoffs and landings on Saturday evening and remains closed today.
Police arrived in large numbers last night after a man, 35, drove an Audi with a four-year-old girl inside through an airport security gate onto the tarmac.
The suspect ploughed through the barrier about 8pm local time, fired a weapon twice, then threw two burning "Molotov cocktail" bottles out of the vehicle, a spokesman for the federal police said.
Hamburg Police posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday morning: "The operation continues.
"Our negotiating group has contact with the person in the car.
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"The situation remains static."
The suspect's wife is reported to have alleged a possible child abduction before the incident.
Police said the child's mother had told them the father had been in contact with her, but would not confirm their earlier statements that the man was armed and had fired shots.
They said they assumed the 35-year-old man was the father of the young girl, and that she had been taken by force from her mother in a possible custody battle.
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The mother is said to have warned officials in an emergency call that the father was racing to the airport with the child.
A police spokesman said on Saturday night: "We are currently assuming that a custody dispute is the background to the operation."
Negotiations between the man and police continued into the early hours of this morning.
Hamburg Police shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday morning: "Negotiations will continue. The operational situation continues.
"Traffic measures around @HamburgAirport are still required.
"Entering the airport is not possible."
Passengers and those collecting them were advised not to go to the airport as access roads were blocked off.
Hamburg Police said on Saturday night: "There is currently a major police operation on the tarmac at @HamburgAirport.
"We are on site with a large contingent of emergency services.
"We are currently assuming a static hostage situation."
No one is understood to have been injured, police said.
The armed man was spotted driving in front of Terminal 1 in an Audi without a licence plate, German newspaper Bild reported.
He reportedly sped through the airport's north gate and drove toward the planes on the tarmac before coming to a stop beside a Turkish Airlines passenger plane.
Police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün told Bild: “This plane was occupied by passengers, but has now been evacuated and cleared.”
The father wanted to travel with his daughter to Turkey by plane, the publication reported.
As air traffic in Hamburg was last night brought to a stop, and all access to the terminals were blocked, some 3,200 passengers from the aircraft and surrounding buildings had to be brought to safety.
An airport spokeswoman said: "Due to a police operation, flight operations at Hamburg Airport have been suspended since 8.24pm and will not resume today.
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"Twenty-seven flight movements are affected (six departures and 21 landings)."
Flight operations remain "suspended indefinitely".
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