3 arrested in Tunisia linked to suspect in Berlin market attack

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Italian police stand around the body of suspect Anis Amri after a shootout in Milan’s Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood early Friday.

(Daniele Bennati / EPA)

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A visitor lays a candle at a memorial inside the reopened Breitscheidplatz Christmas market only a short distance from where a truck plowed into the market, killing 12 people.

(Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

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An Israeli flag stands among candles and flowers left by mourners at a memorial at the reopened Breitscheidplatz Christmas market.

(Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

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Pictures of suspect of Anis Amri released by German Federal Police.

(Handout / AFP/Getty Images)

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The entrance of the mosque where the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack is believed to have been seen.

(Maurizio Gambarini / Associated Press)

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Nour-Houda Amri, mother of 24-year-old Anis Amri, the prime suspect in Berlin’s deadly truck attack, is seen in front her house in Oueslatia, Tunisia.

(Fethi Belaid / AFP/Getty Images)

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The press spokesperson of the federal prosecutor’s office, Frauke Koehler, announces an arrest warrant for Anis Amri of Tunisia on Thursday.

(Franziska Kraufmann / Associated Press)

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A police officer walks through a Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church the day after a terror attack in central Berlin.

(Tobias Schwarz / AFP/Getty Images)

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People light candles at a makeshift memorial in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, where a truck crashed into a crowded Christmas market the day before, killing 12 people and injuring scores more.

(John MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives on Dec. 20, 2016, at the site where a truck crashed into a crowded Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin.

(Maurizo Gambarini / AFP/Getty Images)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second from left, and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller, left, visit the terror attack scene at the Christmas market near Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in central Berlin.

(John MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images)

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Police officers stand next to a truck after it crashed into a crowded Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. The attack is being called an act of terror.

(Tobias Schwarz / AFP/Getty Images)

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A police officer and a firefighter inspect a damaged truck on a road beside the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. Officials say the truck deliberately rammed into a crowded market, killing a dozen people.

(Michael Kappeler / EPA)

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Police officers stand in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin on Dec. 20, 2016, a day after a truck crashed into a Christmas market and killed 12 people.

(John MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images)

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A German police officer stands next to a merry-go-round in the Christmas market in Frankfurt, Germany, one day after a truck drove into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin killing 12 people.

(Michael Probst / Associated Press)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government officials visit the site of the attack in Berlin, the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed 12 people.

(Markus Schreiber / Associated Press)

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Police officers inspect the scene in Berlin, the day after a truck ran into a crowded Christmas market and killed 12 people.

(Markus Schreiber / Associated Press)

By Associated Press

Dec. 24, 2016 1:55 PM PT

Milan —

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said Saturday that police have arrested the nephew of Anis Amri — the suspect in the deadly Berlin market attack — and two others suspected of belonging to the same extremist network.

The ministry said in a statement that Amri had sent his 18-year-old nephew, Fedi, money to join him in Europe. Amri reportedly claimed to be the emir of the Abou Walaa network.

The ministry said the nephew told investigators that he was in contact with Amri via Telegram’s encrypted communications to avoid detection. He said Amri had recruited him for jihad and asked him to pledge allegiance to Islamic State, which he did.

The Tunisian prosecutor’s office ordered all three detained pending further investigation.

The nephew was arrested Friday in Amri’s hometown of Oueslatia; the others were picked up in Tunis.

In Spain, police acting on a tip from German authorities were investigating whether Amri was in contact with another possible extremist there.

“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.

Amri’s fingerprints and wallet were found in the truck that plowed into a Christmas market crowd in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring 56.

After fleeing from Germany through France, he was shot dead by Italian police in Milan on Friday.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack.

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UPDATES:

1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the investigation.

This article was originally published at 5:15 a.m.