The interior ministry said that Amri had sent money to his nephew and encouraged him to pledge allegiance to ISIS.

Tunisia has arrested the nephew of the suspected Berlin truck attacker and two other suspects who are “connected” to the Tunisian attacker Anis Amri, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

A statement said the three suspects, aged between 18 and 27, were arrested on Friday and were members of a “terrorist cell… connected to the terrorist Anis Amri”.

The interior ministry said that Amri had sent money to his nephew and encouraged him to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

“One of the members of the cell is the son of the sister of the terrorist (Amri) and during the investigation he admitted that he was in contact with his uncle through (the messaging service) Telegram,” it said.

The nephew also told investigators that Amri “sent him money through the post… so that he could join him in Germany,” the statement added.

The unnamed nephew was reported in the statement to have said that his uncle was the “prince” or leader of a group based in Germany known as the “Abu al-Walaa” brigade.

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