The Norwegian intelligence service PST said the man was arrested in the Viken county in the country's southeast.

"With the assistance of the local police, PST today arrested a man wanted abroad," Trond Hugubakken, a spokesman for PST, told AFP.

"He is a Norwegian citizen and he is wanted in a criminal case in Italy," Hugubakken added.

The man is in his forties and convicted in Italy of planning a terror attack, according to public broadcaster NRK.

It said he is believed to be linked to an Islamist preacher known as Mullah Krekar, whose name is Najumuddin Faraj Ahmad.

The 64-year-old Iraqi Kurd was arrested in Norway in July 2019 after he was convicted in his absence by an Italian court and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The Italian court found him guilty of having led a now dismantled jihadist network, Rawti Shax, a Kurdish movement with alleged links to the Islamic State group and which is suspected of planning attacks in the West.