Algerian arrested in Italy on suspicion of assisting Paris terrorist attackers

Italian police have arrested a 36-year-old Algerian man on suspicion of belonging to the Daesh terrorist group and aiding the operators of the November 2015 Paris attacks.

A police statement released on Monday said that based on the findings of anti-terrorism investigators, the man gave direct support to the “suicide bombers and gunmen,” to whom he “guaranteed the availability of forged documents.”

Investigators believe the arrested man, along with his two brothers, was part of a Daesh terror cell operating in France and Belgium, Italian media said.

According to a report by La Repubblica daily, the suspect, named Athmane Touami, was previously charged for carrying false documents and had allegedly been in prison in Bari. However, he was due to be released in June.

Touami and his brothers were reportedly in touch with Amedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi since 2010.

Coulibaly and Kouachi are two extremists who participated in the Paris attacks, and also attacked a Jewish supermarket and the Charlie Hebdo newsroom respectively.

At least 130 people were killed and 350 injured in terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015 in the French capital when suicide bombers and gunmen, armed with rifles and other weapons, attacked the Bataclan concert hall, the Stade de France stadium and the bar Le Carillon.

The incident which marked the worst peacetime atrocity in decades, involved three groups of extremists who coordinated the attacks on three different sites.

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