A French jihadist suspected of helping the brothers who carried out the 2015 Charlie Hebdo killings has been arrested in Djibouti and is awaiting transfer to France, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Friday.

Peter Cherif, 36, also known as Abou Hamza, was close to Cherif and Said Kouachi, who shot dead 12 people on Jan.7, 2015, at the offices of satirical publication Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

He was arrested on Sunday, a source told Reuters earlier.

"It's very good news because this terrorist played an important part in the planning of the attack against Charlie Hebdo," Parly told RTL radio. "It shows the fight against terrorism is a long-haul action and that if you stay committed, you obtain results."

France marks Charlie Hebdo, market attacks 3 years later

French President Emmanuel Macron attends commemoration ceremonies of the third anniversary of the deadly attacks in Paris on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.

A wreath laid in commemoration of the victims of the jihadist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is pictured near the magazine's offices in Paris on January 7, 2018, on the third anniversary of the attack. Two French jihadists who had sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda killed 11 people at Charlie Hebdo's offices in 2015 over the staunchly atheist magazine's satirical coverage of Islam and the prophet Mohammed. / AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT        (Photo credit should read CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images)

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French President Emmanuel Macron, rear left, and his wife Brigitte Macron, right, rear right, speak to relatives of victims outside Charlie Hebdo's former office during a memorial ceremony on Sunday. 

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Victims of Strasbourg Christmas market attack honoured as death toll rises to 5

The hour-long ceremony took place in Kleber Square, not far from where a gunman opened fire on Tuesday evening. Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries praised the city's resilience in the face of hardship.

Residents react during a gathering being held in a central square of the eastern French city of Strasbourg, Sunday Dec.16, 2018 to pay homage to the victims of a gunman who killed four people and wounded a dozen more. The gathering was held in Kleber Square by a Christmas market and near where the gunman opened fire last Tuesday evening.

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Residents react during a gathering held in a central square of the eastern French city of Strasbourg on Sunday to pay homage to the victims of last week's shooting.

Cherif and&nbsp;Kouachi died in a police assault two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack at a printworks north of Paris.

The attack was followed a day later by the killing of a trainee police officer by Amedy Coulibaly, an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) loyalist. The following day, he attacked a Jewish store on the edge of Paris, where he killed four hostages before police killed him.

Twenty people, including the three assailants, were killed in the Charlie Hebdo and store attacks.&nbsp;

The suspect was arrested thousands of miles away in the east African nation of Djibouit, France's Foreign Minister confirmed.

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A woman looks at flowers laid near the headquarters of magazine Charlie Hebdo in on Feb. 6, 2015. Said and Cherif Kouachi killed 12 people in a terror attack at the offices of the French satirical publication and were later killed by French police.  

Man suspected of being Charlie Hebdo attack accomplice arrested in Djibouti

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