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| Europe |
| Imam among five arrested in Italy |
| 2004-05-09 |
| Italian anti-terrorist police arrested five suspected Islamic extremists Sunday, including an imam, saying they were preparing to leave Italy to carry out suicide bombing missions against Western targets in Iraq. Police said the Algerian-born imam and four Tunisian nationals were arrested in Florence and nearby Siena during an anti-terrorist operation carried out across Tuscany and Liguria in the early hours of Sunday. They said the men belonged to the outlawed Ansar al-Islam group and provided logistical support to Osama Bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network. âWe have dismantled a cell of Ansar al-Islam,â said Genoa police chief Oscar Fioriolli, whose officers carried out the operation. The leader of the group was named as Mahamri Rashid, a 34-year-old imam of one of Florenceâs two mosques. Prosecutors said the four Tunisians, all aged in their 20s, had been planning to leave for Iraq via Syria and Yemen in the next few days. There they were to make contact with other Ansar al-Islam extremists who were to supply them with weapons and explosives and help them enter Iraq to carry out suicide bombings, according to prosecutors. Sundayâs arrests were the latest in a series of detentions of mostly north African immigrants made by Italian police since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Prosecutors believe Italy has long been used as a logistical base for Al Qaeda in Europe. Some of those arrested have been convicted of terrorist offences. However, a Muslim leader Sunday pointed out that many of those arrested amid huge publicity are later quietly released for lack of evidence. âWeâre tired of these stories. Weâre exasperated by this climate of alarm over a threat which doesnât exist, or at least, not in these terms,â said Homza Roberto Piccardo, national secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy. He cited the case of 28 Pakistani immigrants arrested in Naples two years ago on suspicion of plotting to kill a NATO admiral but later released. |
| Posted by:Fred |