Photos have emerged of the man suspected to be involved in a terror attack in Tunisia flashing the peace sign for the camera as he arrives in Italy on a migrant boat.

Abdel Majid Touil, 22, was pictured smirking at a Sicilian port in February after smuggling himself into Europe on a boat full of migrants while allegedly planning the attack.

Weeks later, gunmen stormed the Bardo Museum in Tunis, killing 21 tourists.

Touil arrived in Porto Empedocle in Sicily on 17 February using the alias Abdullah after being rescued by Italian authorities on a migrant boat in the Mediterranean.

He received an expulsion order demanding he leave Italy within 15 days. But he disappeared before re-emerging in Tunisia where the authorities maintain he was personally involved in both the planning and the execution of the attacks. 

He then disappeared again and managed to re-enter Italy despite the expulsion order. 

He was arrested at the home he shares with his mother and brothers in Gaggiano, near Milan, on Tuesday night. 

The accusations listed in the Tunisian arrest warrant include premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit attacks against the internal security of the state, belonging to a terrorist group and recruiting and training others to commit terrorist attacks, police said. 

Police were able to identify him in part after his mother reported that her son's passport was missing immediately after the Bardo attack.  

Bruno Megale of the anti-terrorism Digos police said: 'He did not appear to frequent mosques close to fundamentalism in Italy and was unknown to us apart from the deportation order before the intelligence came from the Tunisian authorities.' 

Extradition procedures will now begin, it is understood, but Tunisia could face difficulties because the death penalty could be imposed for the crimes of which he is accused. 

News of his arrest follows warnings by Libyan authorities that ISIS militias in Libya are using migrant boats to smuggle jihadis into Europe.