3 arrested for links to Berlin Christmas market attacker

TUNISIAN SECURITY forces have arrested three suspected militants after uncovering their links to Anis Amri, the Tunisian national who’s fingerprints and wallet were found in a truck that plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others, Tunisia’s interior ministry said on Saturday.

Amri’s nephew was among the three men and had been in touch by social media messaging with Amri, the ministry said. The three are between the ages of 18 and 27 and had been active around Amri’s hometown of Oueslatia, central Tunisia. Investigators Saturday sought to hunt down where Amri got possible logistical support to cross at least two European borders and evade capture for days before being killed in a police shootout during a routine stop in a Milan suburb.

Despite an intense, Europe-wide manhunt, Amri fled across Germany, into France and then into Italy, travelling at least part of the way by train, before being shot early Friday on foot outside a deserted train station.

Italian investigators were working to see if the Tunisian had any connections in the Milan area. Italy was his port of entry into Europe in 2011 and he spent more than three years in Italian jails in Sicily. But an anti-terrorism official said there was no evidence that he had ever been in or around Milan before Friday’s shootout. In Tunisia, the Interior Ministry said that Amri, through an alias, had sent his 18-year-old nephew Fedi some money through the post office to join him in Europe and join the Abou Walaa network. Amir claimed to be the network’s emir.

The ministry said during questioning, the nephew said he was in contact with Amri via Telegram’s encrypted communications to avoid detection. He told police that Amri had recruited him into jihad and asked him to pledge allegiance to IS. The nephew recorded such a pledge and sent it to Amri via Telegram.

The Tunisian prosecutor’s office ordered all three held in pre-trial detention pending further investigation.

Meanwhile, Spanish authorities were investigating whether Amri was in contact with another possible extremist in Spain, on a tip from German authorities.

“We are studying all possible connections (between Amri) and our country, above all with one specific person,’’ Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido told Spanish radio.

Investigators are looking into why Amri returned to Italy as he sought to elude police and whether he had any jihadi contacts in the country.