Italy terror suspect 'recently bought explosives'

Authorities have arrested three Algerians suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Italy, news reports said today.

The three are believed to have links to an Algerian militant group that has allied itself with Osama bin Laden, Il Messaggero and news agencies ANSA and Apcom reported.

Investigators believe the three were preparing an attack – and weren’t merely in Italy to provide logistical support such as false documents, which has been a common accusation against terrorism suspects in Italy.

Il Messaggero said the three were suspected of planning an attack in Rome, or failing that in Naples or Brescia. One of the men had recently bought explosives, the newspaper reported.

ANSA said the three were detained in Naples and Brescia on Tuesday night and yesterday on suspicion of association with the aim of international terrorism - a charge introduced in Italy after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

A judge was expected to rule on whether to uphold the arrests later today.

ANSA identified the three as Yamine Bouhrama, Khaled Serai and Mohamed Larbi. It said they had links to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, a militant Algerian movement that has declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network.

ANSA said Bouhrama and Serai had lived in Norway with false documents obtained in France.

One of the three had received training at camps in Afghanistan and Chechnya, ANSA and Apcom said.

Italy’s carabinieri paramilitary police carried out the arrests based on information provided by the SISMI intelligence agency.

Italy raised its security alert after the July 7 suicide bombings on London’s transport system, stepping up measures at airports, government buildings, embassies and monuments.

The government is taking seriously purported Internet threats by Islamic militants who say Italy, like Britain, could be attacked because it has troops in Iraq.