Italian police have arrested four men suspected of belonging to an Islamist militant cell believed to be planning terror attacks in the US, Israel and Italy. Two other suspects have reportedly fled the country.
The men allegedly sought to train militants in order to send
them for operations abroad and have been accused of conspiracy to
commit international terrorism and inciting racial hatred.
Hosni Hachemi Ben Hassen, the Tunisian leader of the cell- once an
Imam at a mosque in the southern Italian city of Andria- was
arrested in Belgium. Two more Tunisians were arrested in the
Sicilian province of Catania, while another was arrested in
Milan.
Police say they found jihadist training videos connected to the
group, whose base of operations was Andria.
Italian police are still looking for two other men who are believed
to have absconded to Tunisia. No international arrest warrant has
been issued for the remaining two suspects.
Investigators believe the six men recruited among illegal
immigrants in Italy, who were then sent to militant training camps
in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Yemen, Reuters reports.
In some cases the terror recruits were reportedly dispatched to
Iraq where they went on to carry out attacks.
“Due to their important international contacts and to the kind
of indoctrination they received, we’re sure they would have been
able to carry out an attack,” Euro news cites Mario Parente,
General Head of ROS, a special operations group that is part of
Italy’s carabinieri police force, as saying.
A police statement characterized the group by their "fierce
anti-Semitism and anti-Western sentiment.” No specific targets
were revealed, though the group was said to be planning terrorist
operations against governments, military forces, institutions and
international organizations viewed as enemies in the context of a
holy war.