Rome prosecutors have opened a
probe to shed light on the background and contacts in Italy of
Ahmed Hanachi, a Tunisian who stabbed to death two young women
in Marseilles at the weekend.
Hanachi, who has shot dead by soldiers, had reportedly lived
in Italy for several years and was reportedly married to an
Italian woman resident in Aprilia, near Rome - the same town
where Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri also lived for a short
time, police said.
Amri killed 12 people at a Berlin Xmas market before going on
the run and being shot dead at Milan central train station in
December 2016.
Like Hanachi, Amri was a Tunisian failed asylum seeker.
Hanachi reportedly left Italy shortly after the couple split
up in 2013, sources said.
Friends and acquaintances of Hanachi told reporters Tuesday:
"He didn't seem to have been radicalised. He had Western clothes
and a Western lifestyle".
Hanachi's in-laws said they hadn't seen him for several
months.
His ex-wife has moved to North Africa with another man, they
said.
Sihem Zrelli, president of the 'Palma del Sud' Tunisian
immigrant business and cultural association, said: "Aprilia is
not a crossroads for terrorists, the Tunisian community is well
integrated and we have worked hard with Italian associations and
institutions".
The Marseilles victims were two cousins aged 20, Mauranne and
Laura.
The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Another person was arrested in connection with the attacks in
France Tuesday, bringing to four the total of people arrested,
including a woman.
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