Italian prosecutors want arrests over CIA kidnap

Italian prosecutors today said they were seeking the arrest of four more Americans as part of an investigation into the alleged CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

In a statement released in Milan, prosecutors said three were CIA agents, while the fourth American worked at the joint US-Italian air base of Aviano, where the Egyptian was allegedly taken after his abduction.

The statement also said that two Italian officials with the SISMI intelligence agency were placed under arrest. They were the first Italians to be involved in the probe.

Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, an Egyptian cleric and terrorist suspect also known as Abu Omar, was allegedly kidnapped from a Milan street on February 17, 2003.

Prosecutors say the alleged operation represented a severe breach of Italian sovereignty that compromised their anti-terrorism efforts, and have already incriminated 22 purported CIA agents.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi has repeatedly maintained his government and Italian secret services had not been informed about the operation or taken part in it.

In March, SISMI director Nicolo Pollari told EU politicians that Italian agets played no part and had no knowledge of the operation.