Berlin Christmas Market Attacker Was Part Of Europe-Wide Network Of IS Terrorists- Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2019) The perpetrator behind the deadly Christmas market attack in Berlin which killed 12 people, Anis Amri, was a part of a Europe-wide network of Islamic State (IS, terrorist group, banned in Russia) supporters, German media reported.

Back in 2016, Amri, who was initially identified as an IS sympathizer, rammed his truck into the Christmas market in the German capital, leaving 12 people dead and dozens injured. The perpetrator, who later was revealed to be a rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia, was killed days later in a shootout with police near the Italian city of Milan.

Amri had connections with Islamic State extremists who were, in their turn, linked to the 2015 attacks in Paris which left over 130 people dead, Der Spiegel newspaper reported.

The terrorist also reportedly had contacts with IS members in Libya a year prior to the Berlin attack.

The new key findings came from a French terrorist suspect, identified as Clement Baur, whose conversations with visitors in prison were monitored for months.

According to the information received from Baur, the group, which included Amri, planned simultaneous attacks on Germany, Belgium and France. Baur and Amri knew each other from a radical mosque in Berlin. He also added that Amri was "fascinated" by Nice attack in France back in 2016 which claimed lives of over 80 people.

Baur also knew Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian-Moroccan Islamic militant, a mastermind of the Paris attacks.