MILAN -- Investigators Saturday worked to determine whether the Berlin Christmas market attacker received any logistical support that allowed him to cross at least two European borders and evade capture for days before being killed in a police shootout in a Milan suburb in Italy.
Tunisian fugitive Anis Amri's fingerprints and wallet were found in the truck that plowed into the market in Berlin on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. Despite an intense, Europe-wide manhunt, Amri was able to flee across Germany, into France and then into Italy, traveling at least part of the way by train, before he was shot early Friday in a police stop outside a deserted train station.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Berlin attack, but so far little is known about any support network backing up the 24-year-old fugitive.
In Spain, police were investigating whether Amri was in contact with a possible extremist there, 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.
In Tunisia, authorities have arrested three men "linked to the perpetrator of the terrorist attack," including Amri's nephew, the government said in a statement Saturday.
The three men, whose ages ranged from 18 to 27, were arrested Friday. They were described as members of a cell that had been in contact with Amri.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry said in a statement that Amri used an alias to send his 18-year-old nephew Fedi some money through the post office to join him in Europe and join the Abou Walaa network, which recruits for the Islamic State extremist group. Amir claimed to be the network's emir, or commander.
Amri's nephew reportedly confessed to communicating with his uncle via the secure messaging app Telegram. He said Amri had recruited him to jihad and asked him to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, which he did, according to the Interior Ministry statement.
In a video released Friday, Amri was seen declaring his loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State.
Amri is the youngest of nine siblings, including five sisters. Two of his sisters -- Hamida, 32, and Najwa, 28 -- said in an interview Thursday that they did not believe their brother was responsible for the attack.
A brother said he believed that Amri might have become radicalized while detained in Sicily -- Italy was the migrant's port of entry into Europe less than six years ago, and Amri spent more than half that time in six Italian prisons in Sicily.
Amri's nephew and the two other men who were arrested were active in the towns of Fouchana, outside the capital Tunis, and Oueslatia, Amri's hometown, according to the statement. The Tunisian prosecutor's office ordered all three held in pretrial detention pending further investigation.
Elsewhere, in Tunis, about 200 people alarmed by Germany's original plan to deport Amri protested against the return of Tunisian jihadis who have fought abroad.
Banners at the protest in front of Parliament in Tunis on Saturday read "Close the doors to terrorism" and "No tolerance, no return." Protesters waved Tunisian flags and sang the national anthem, saying Tunisia should not accept jihadis who have left for other countries.
Tunisia said at least 800 jihadis in Tunisia are already under surveillance since they returned home from fighting in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
"For us, they are not Tunisians," protester Faten Mejri said. "They are awful people."
Amri's actions
Italian investigators were working to see if the Tunisian had any connections in the Milan area. But an anti-terrorism official said there was no evidence that he had ever been in or around Milan before Friday's shootout.
Italy has found itself at the center of the Berlin attack investigation since the shootout Friday. The fact that it was late in the night and that the train station was deserted led Italian officers to check Amri's identity, officials said. Instead of pulling out an identity card, Amri pulled out a loaded .22-caliber gun. He shot a senior officer in the shoulder before a rookie officer killed Amri with a single shot.
Amri had arrived illegally in the southern island of Lampedusa in 2011. He claimed to be a minor and quickly landed in jail after setting fire to a migrant center. After he was freed, efforts to deport him failed for bureaucratic reasons.
He reached Germany, where authorities were concerned enough to put him under covert surveillance for six months earlier this year, ending the operation in September. His request for asylum was refused by Germany in the summer, and the paperwork from Tunisia that was needed to deport him was delayed for months.
Investigators are looking into why Amri went to Italy last week as he sought to elude police and whether he had any jihadi contacts in that country.
Authorities were also investigating the apparent coincidence that the truck from a Polish shipping company used in the Berlin attack had been loaded with machinery in the neighboring Milan suburb of Cinisello Balsamo three days before.
Milan Police Chief Antonio de Iesu said the connection was "suggestive." He said the Polish truck driver who was the terrorist's first victim had spoken to his wife by phone from Berlin hours before the attack and did not appear to be under duress.
On Saturday, the body of one of the 12 market victims, 31-year-old Fabrizia Di Lorenzo, was returned to Italy. She had been working in Berlin and was out shopping for Christmas presents to take to relatives in central Italy when the truck careened into the market.
A casket containing her body arrived at Rome's Ciampino airport and was met by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Her parents and brother received hugs and condolences before the casket was placed in a vehicle for the ride home.
Meanwhile, the husband of a Czech woman killed in the Berlin attack said he is relieved that Amri no longer poses a threat to the people of Europe.
Petr Cizmar said he was not after revenge against Amri, "but I needed to know that he was removed from our society one way or another and could not cause further harm."
He spoke Saturday by phone from the family's home in Braunschweig, about 143 miles west of Berlin.
Cizmar said that since May, his 34-year-old wife, Nada, had a logistics job in Berlin and stayed in the city during the week. He said she had gone to the market to celebrate Christmas with her colleagues where she was killed.
The couple has a 5-year-old son.
Information for this article was contributed by Colleen Barry, Bouazza ben Bouazza, Katerina Santurova and staff members with The Associated Press; and by Russell Goldman of The New York Times.
A Section on 12/25/2016