A terrorist cell linked to the perpetrator of the jihadist attack in Paris dismantled

An anti-terrorist operation by Italian police has led to the dismantling of a cell made up of Pakistani nationals operating in Italy and other European countries and linked to the perpetrator of an attack that injured two people in Paris in 2020, officials said today. 

A total of 14 arrest warrants have been issued against people accused of "association with international terrorism" and are being carried out since early this morning in Italy and abroad, the national police explained in a statement. 

The operation, coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office in Genoa (northwest) together with the District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorist Directorate, has linked the cell to Hassan Zaher Mahmood, the 27-year-old Pakistani who on 25 September 2020 seriously wounded two people next to the former headquarters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 

"The investigations made it possible to reveal the existence and operability, in several Italian provinces and in some European countries, of a terrorist cell that can be traced back to a wider group of young Pakistanis, self-styled 'Gabar Group', all of them direct contacts of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist," police said. 

The investigations also involved the Spanish and French counter-terrorism offices, coordinated by Europol's European Counter-Terrorism Centre (ECTC). 

A few months ago, the Spanish police arrested five Pakistanis for allegedly praising jihadist attackers in France, such as Zaher Mahmood, who was linked to a Pakistani movement that promotes the murder of everyone it considers to be a blasphemer against Islam.