Rome:At least ten people are being investigated in Italy for suspected ties with Islamist terrorist networks abroad, media reported Tuesday.
Chief prosecutor Massimo Pignatone opened a probe in Rome for possible subversive association with terrorist purposes on a dozen of foreign Muslim citizens living in Italy, Xinhua reported citing AdnKronos news agency.
Prosecutors would be looking into their possible ties with Islamic terrorist groups abroad. The formal investigation was opened after monitoring some suspicious activities on Internet.
The suspects would be considered as possible “lone wolves” and not part of a terror cell, according to ANSA news agency.
The recent terrorist attacks in France have prompted alarm in the country, head of the Rome section of the Italian police’s anti-terror squad Diego Parente said Monday.
Security measures were tightened in the Jewish districts of major cities, and around possible sensitive targets such as media offices, embassies, public buildings, and places of worship.
Italian authorities also acknowledged the Vatican City in Rome was a “possible target”, after media reports unveiled that the US have warned the seat of the Catholic Pope of possible acts of terrorism.
However, “no concrete signals of imminent attacks have emerged so far,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said.
On Monday, Rome-based Il Tempo newspaper reported some 211 people living in Italy would be overall considered by the anti-terrorism special unit as “at risk of having close ties with terrorist Islamic networks.”