[ADN Kronos] Twenty-six foreigners suspected of links to international terrorism as well as aiding and abetting illegal immigration are being investigated by Italian police, after raids carried out on Thursday in various Italian cities. The raids were carried out in properties around the northern cities of Vicenza, Venice, Padova, Brescia, Como, Cuneo and Trento, the central city of Florence and the southern city of Caserta.
The anti-terrorism and organised crime investigators in March 2007 began probing alleged Islamic fundamentalists attending the Via Dei Mille mosque in Vicenza in the northern Veneto region. The mosque was led by a Yemeni imam, who is also being investigated for terror links. However, most of the 26 foreigners arrested are Algerian. Three of them, who lived in Naples, are thought to be Islamist radicals sympathetic to the radical 'Takfiri' ideology.
The three radicals had already been involved in falsifying documents to aid jihadist groups.
Takfiris believe contemporary Muslim society has reverted to a state of unbelief ('kufr') and thus considers legitimate both rebellions against the state and acts of violence against Muslim citizens.