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 For an Italy worn out after a year that included deadly earthquakes, political turmoil and a slow-motion banking crisis, the news that two Italian police officers helped stop one of the world’s most wanted terrorists came as a relief. 
 
 The officers — Cristian Movio, 36, and Luca Scatà, 29 — were on patrol in the small city of Sesto San Giovanni around 3 a.m. Friday when they came upon a man walking alone next to a subway station that is the northern terminus for one of the lines that take commuters to and from Milan. 
 
 They had no idea that the man was Anis Amri, 24, the chief suspect in the truck attack in Berlin on Monday that killed 12 people and injured nearly 50. The officers asked him for identification. When he responded in Italian that he had no documents on him, they asked him to empty his pockets and backpack. Mr. Amri then pulled out a pistol and opened fire, shooting Officer Movio in the shoulder. Officer Scatà returned fire, killing Mr. Amri. 
 
 Even before German officials had confirmed that Mr. Amri was dead, Italian officials, including Paolo Gentiloni, who took office as prime minister only this month, praised the two officers. 
 
 “These people in our police forces are exceptional,” Interior Minister Marco Minniti said at a news conference. “The police officer who was shot is so young, and he was just doing his job, yet he did an extraordinary service to the community.” 
 
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 Facebook users agreed. Pages sprouted up in honor of Officer Scatà, including some classifying him as a “public figure” and others calling him a world hero and deserving of a medal. His Instagram page, which revealed his roots in Sicily and his interests in bodybuilding, soccer and motorcycling, attracted new followers; it is no longer available. Officer Scatà was a junior officer who had joined the police force just nine months ago and was still on probation. ||||| (CNN) New light has been shed on the German terrorist network behind the Berlin attack in 345 pages of German investigative files that CNN has obtained. 
 
 They reveal that Anis Amri, the Tunisian suspect in the truck attack , was part of an ISIS recruitment network that orbited around a radical preacher called Abu Walaa from al-Tamim, Iraq. The cleric, who styled himself as ISIS' representative to Germany, built up a national following among Islamist extremists in the European country. 
 
 Analysts tracking the network tell CNN as many as 20 Germans who have joined ISIS have ties to his network. 
 
 The German jihadis, like some of their compatriots, had a penchant for bureaucratic subdivision, with leading proselytizers responsible for recruiting in particular regions. 
 
 Abu Walaa was the central figure in what prosecutors called a "nationwide network of salafi-jihadi indoctrinators, which are closely interlinked and act in a work sharing manner." 
 
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 The network even came up with a common curriculum to brainwash youngsters and persuade them to join ISIS. Their recruitment efforts were mainly based in the North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony regions of Germany, and they ran seminars in the towns of Dortmund, Hildesheim and Duisburg, which extremists from across the country visited. Supporters also downloaded Internet videos in which Abu Walaa's face was not featured, giving him the nickname the preacher without a face. 
 
 Just like the so-called Zerkani ISIS recruiting network in Brussels, Belgium, the German network raised funds for jihadi travel through robberies. It also raised money through applications for fraudulent loans. 
 
 Another leading figure in the Abu Walaa network was Boban Simeonovic, a 36-year-old German-Serbian from Dortmund who acted as a guru to Amri and had a reputation for fanaticism even in these radical circles. 
 
 Simeonovic stressed to followers in Germany that there was a "state of war" in the country and attacks were necessary, according to the investigative files. 
 
 Suspect Anis Amri was part of an ISIS recruitment network called Abu Walaa, investigative files show. 
 
 Both Abu Walaa and Simeonovic were arrested in November, along with three other leading figures in the network. They were all charged with terrorism offenses. 
 
 When Amri was preparing to travel to join ISIS in late 2015, Simeonovic took him and other jihadi wannabes on long hikes with backpacks to get them in shape and tried to arrange for him to leave the country through his contacts at a mosque in Hildelsheim. It is not clear why he was not able to travel. 
 
 While in Germany, Amri communicated with the radical network using the encryption app Telegram, according to the investigative files. 
 
 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is illuminated in the colors of the German flag on Tuesday, December 20, one day after a truck crashed into a crowded Christmas market there. At least 12 people were killed and 48 injured in what police are investigating as a terrorist attack. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A police officer places a candle at a makeshift memorial in Berlin on December 20. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A woman is illuminated by candles as she cries in Berlin on December 20. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A man prays at a Berlin memorial on December 20. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath German Chancellor Angela Merkel lays flowers at the memorial on December 20. She is joined by, from left, Berlin Mayor Michael Muller, Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maiziere and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath Merkel, bottom left, views the scene of the attack. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A woman reacts near the crime scene on December 20. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath Mourners gather at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church near the crash site. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A police officer holds her weapon near the market. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A woman lays flowers at a makeshift memorial across from the market. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A stall worker is comforted in the market area on December 20. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath People attend a memorial service at St. Hedwig Cathedral in Berlin on December 20. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Berlin attack aftermath A police van drives by Christmas decorations at a Christmas market in Frankfurt, Germany, on December 20. Police presence has been stepped up at Christmas markets across Germany following the attack in Berlin. Hide Caption 13 of 13 
 
 Sometime after his travel plans fell through, Amri started discussing launching an attack in Germany, according to a police informant in the network who was cited in the investigative files. Simeonovic was in favor of this and gave the Tunisian a place to hide, the police informant told German investigators. 
 
 Other members of the Abu Walaa network discussed driving a truck full of gasoline with a bomb into a crowd, the police informant told investigators, according to the investigative files. 
 
 According to the investigative files, handwritten notes were found indicating that Simeonovic had direct contact with a number of German ISIS operatives in Syria, including the German convert Christian Emde and Silvio Koblitz, a recruit from Essen. 
 
 The investigative files also include information from Anil O., a German-Turkish defector from ISIS tied to the network, now cooperating with German authorities. The defector claimed Abu Walaa had particular clout in Raqqa, Syria, because one of his former acolytes, a German ISIS operative named Lemke, was in charge of German members of the group's Amniyat security service and was in touch with Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who until his death was the second most powerful figure in ISIS.
– Tunisia's Interior Ministry says police have arrested the nephew of Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri and two others—and says all three men are suspected of belonging to a terrorist cell and had contacts with Amri. The ministry says the nephew, 18-year-old Fedi, told police he was in contact with Amri encrypted communications to avoid detection. He told police that Amri had recruited him to jihad and asked him to pledge allegiance to ISIS, and that Amri sent him money to join him in Germany. The arrests occurred Saturday, the day after Amri was killed in a shootout with police in Milan, Italy. Video later surfaced of the Tunisian pledging allegiance to ISIS. The two officers who stopped Amri in Milan are being hailed as heroes in Italy, the New York Times reports. The officer who killed Amri, 29-year-old Luca Scata, had only been on the force for nine months. His colleague, 36-year-old Cristian Movio, was shot during the encounter and is recovering from non-life threatening wounds. Spain's Interior Minister, meanwhile, says police are investigating whether Amri was in contact with another possible extremist in Spain. Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoid says Spanish police are looking into a tip passed on by German authorities that Anis Amri had developed a contact in Spain. CNN reports that investigators believe Amri was part of the "Abu Walaa" extremist recruitment network, centered on a radical preacher who considers himself ISIS' representative in Germany.