(AKI) - Italian anti-terrorist police on Tuesday arrested two Moroccans suspected of international terrorism, Ilhami Rachid and Abdelkader Ghaffir, and raided the homes of other people believed to be linked to the pair. Rachid and Ghaffir were allegedly plotting attacks on military and civilian targets on the outskirts of the northern city of Milan.Rachid, 31, and Ghaffir, 42, had planned attacks on a supermarket, a bar, night club car park, and two police stations, as well as the immigration office at police headquarters in Milan.
The two men do not belong to any terrorist organisation, but closely followed jihadist websites, especially statements by the Al-Qaeda terror network, according to investigators.
Rachid had 'indoctrinated' his two-year-old son, teaching him to recognise photos of Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden and to call him 'Uncle Osma', investigators said.
Phone taps revealed he and Ghaffir had initially planned to use a van packed with explosives but then decided to use oxygen cylinders after searching and downloading the bomb-making information from the Internet.
Police are also checking a total 10 contacts of the Moroccans, who attended an Islamic cultural centre located in an old warehouse in the town of Macherio, where Rachid worked as an imam. Both he and Ghaffir had lived in Italy for some time, said investigators.
Last year police officials warned of possible attacks in Italy by Al-Qaeda-linked north African terror groups after a string of arrests in the northern Lombardy region surrounding Milan.
Police in November 2007 arrested 20 people suspected of belonging to an Islamist terror cell in Milan accused of recruiting would-be suicide bombers and sending them to Iraq and Afghanistan.