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2 arrested, 3 wanted on terrorism charges in Italy: media

Xinhua, May 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Two Afghan nationals suspected of planning attacks in Italy and Britain were arrested on Tuesday by Carabinieri, the Italian military police force, local media reported.

Hakim Nasiri, 23, accused of international terrorism, and Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, accused of aiding illegal immigration, were arrested in an anti-terrorism operation conducted in southern Italy. Both suspects had subsidiary protection and humanitarian protection status in Italy.

Another three people were being sought, according to ANSA news agency.

According to prosecutors in Bari, a city in southern Italy, Nasiri and Ahmadzai were part of a criminal organization which served as a "network for logistic support" for terrorist plans linked to the Islamic State (IS).

Police reportedly found many images and videos shot in key locations of Rome, Bari and London in their mobile phones.

"The organization planned, through the preliminary inspection of target places even with photographic and video documentation, terror attacks at airports, ports, police vehicles, shopping malls, hotels, as well as other unspecified terror attacks in Italy and Britain," investigation sources were quoted as saying.

Rome's Colosseum and Circus Maximus sites, Bari's airport as well as London's West India Quay commercial center and Sunborn Yacht Hotel featured in the material. "The material has no tourist value, and can be read as inspections by the organization to plan terror attacks," investigators highlighted.

Images of weapons, extremist fighters, audio files for Islamist indoctrination and jihadi manuals were among the other materials found by police in the cell phones of arrested people, who were allegedly spreading extremist ideology through the internet.

Tuesday's arrests came a day after a 26-tear-old Slovenian national identified as Rok Zavbi and suspected to be a foreign fighter was arrested in Slovenia in another operation conducted by Italian Carabinieri in collaboration with Slovenian police.

The man was allegedly responsible for recruiting aspiring international terrorists and for radicalizing and recruiting aspiring jihadists on Italian territory, Italian authorities said.

The Mediterranean country, which is facing growing flows of migrants from Africa and the Middle East across the Mediterranean sea, has toughened anti-terrorism measures and expelled dozens of suspects following the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels. Endit