Rome, December 3 - Italy can no longer be regarded only as a ''logistical base'' for terrorists but must be considered a target, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Wednesday. Speaking a day after two Moroccans were arrested by anti-terrorist police on charges of planning attacks on targets in Milan and towns in the Lombardy region, Frattini said it was necessary to heighten the level of alert in the country. ''There are terrorists ready to make attacks on Italy. Until now, Italy was thought of only as a logistical base,'' he said. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni described the situation as ''new and worrying''.
''We are verifying whether this relates to an extended network or an isolated case,'' he added.
Maroni congratulated police on their operation to prevent the attacks.
''We managed to avert the worse thanks to intelligence and to the exchange of information,'' he said.
Maroni said he will travel to the United States next week for talks on strengthening collaboration in the fight against international terrorism, which he said ''risks becoming a planetary emergency'' after the attacks in Mumbai last week.
NEW FACE OF TERRORISM.
Italy's top terrorism expert Stefano Dambruoso said the arrests in Italy were a sign of the changing face of terrorism, which now included ''self-taught'' cells and groups who were not part of a larger organisation but who learnt about jihad via the internet.
Dambruoso said while these cells were less dangerous in some ways, they were harder for police to monitor.
''In Italy what happened in Mumbai would not be possible, but that does not exclude the possibility that some fanatic is capable of carrying out an attack,'' he added.
Rachid Ilhami, 31, and Gafir Abdelkader, 42, were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of planning attacks on an immigration office and a police barracks in Milan as well as police stations, a supermarket and a night club carpark in smaller towns in the Lombardy region.
Police believe they turned their attention to Italian targets after failing to make the ''necessary contacts'' to be sent abroad as jihad fighters.
Seven other Moroccans are also under investigation for their part in the plot.
Arrests of suspected terrorists in Italy in the past have largely been connected with the recruitment of suicide bombers to be sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. Others have been arrested on charges of providing financial and logistical support to terrorists operating in Tunisia and Algeria.
Italian News: Italy is a terrorist target
Rome, December 3 - Italy can no longer be regarded only as a ''logistical base'' for terrorists...
Sunday 05 July 2009
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