Italian police crack major terror cell

Italian police hunting illegal immigrants in Naples stumbled across what they say is an al-Qaida terror cell.

They arrested 28 Pakistanis and found explosives, detonators, forged documents and maps of Nato installations in the flat the men were using.

Maps of the Naples area had “sensitive targets” circled with a pen, police said today in announcing they had uncovered an ”al-Qaida terrorist cell.”

The areas marked included the US consulate in the southern city and a nearby Nato base.

Police said they picked up the 28 Pakistanis, aged 20-48, during a routine search in Naples for illegal immigrants on Thursday.

During the raid of an apartment in the city centre, they uncovered almost two pounds of dynamite, 165 feet of explosive fuse and various types of detonators.

A police official said the combination of the materials “could have imploded a 10 storey building.”

Police said the dynamite plus the chemicals used in the explosive fuse produced more than three pounds of T4, a powerful explosive even in small amounts.

A Nato official in Brussels said the alliance treated “any threat of this kind extremely seriously.”

The US embassy in Rome was briefed on the arrests and was monitoring it closely, a diplomat said.

During the search of the apartment , police also found hundreds of forged identity documents, hundreds of mobile phones, an index of thousands of international telephone contacts and addresses, and instruction manuals on how to forge identity documents.

In addition, religious texts in Pakistan’s Urdu language and other documents were found in the apartment, as well as photos of “martyrs of the Jihad,” police said.

The Pakistanis have been charged with association with the aim of international terrorism, possession of illegal explosive material, falsification of documents and trafficking, the statement said.

Over the past few months Italian authorities have arrested dozens of people suspected of links with international terrorism.

Most of the attention has focused on suspected cells linked to al-Qaida in northern Italy, particularly Milan and Bologna.

Last week police near the northern city of Rovigo arrested five Moroccans found in possession of explosives and maps detailing central London.

State television said today that police were investigating a suspected al-Qaida cell in the northern city of Turin.

Last year, seven Tunisians were convicted in Milan of helping suspected al-Qaida recruits obtain false documents.

Among them was Essid Sami Ben Khemais, whom Italian authorities believe was sent to Italy to oversee terror mastermind Osama bin Laden’s operations in Europe.

None of those arrested have been accused of any direct links to the September 11 attacks on the US.