Italy terror cell that plotted to bomb Vatican smashed, prosecutors say

[umbertino]

Eighteen people suspected of links with al-Qaida, including two purported Bin Laden bodyguards, targeted in raids across Italy after six-year investigation

 

 

Jamie Grierson

@JamieGrierson

 

 

Friday 24 April 2015 14.50 BST

 

 

 

 

A terror cell that plotted to bomb the Vatican and included Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards among its members has been smashed by Italian counter-terror police, prosecutors have said.

 

Following a six-year investigation that began with a probe into illegal immigration, police launched raids across Italy and Sardinia on Friday, targeting 18 people suspected of links with al-Qaida.

 

An as yet unspecified number were arrested, including a spiritual leader of the small Muslim community on Sardinia, but others are believed to have fled the country.

 

Among those arrested or being sought were men suspected of involvement in the October 2009 bombing of the Meena Bazaar in Peshawar, which left more than 100 dead and over 200 people injured.

 

They are also believed to have planned to topple the Pakistani government, police said.

 

The extremists were allegedly involved in smuggling Pakistani and Afghan nationals into Europe through Italy, according to police.

 

The Italian interior minister, Angelino Alfano, described the swoop as “an extraordinary operation” that demonstrated the efficiency of the security services.

 

“With one sole investigation that started in 2009 we have succeeded in not only dismantling a network of people traffickers but also detaining several individuals accused of conspiring with terrorist aims and others of involvement in attacks,” Alfano said.

 

Italian prosecutor Mauro Mura told a press conference in Cagliari, Sardinia, that wiretaps suggested the terror suspects were planning an attack at the Vatican in 2010 and a suicide bomber had arrived in Rome.

 

Mura told reporters the plot went no further and the suicide bomber left Italy without explanation.

 

The Vatican appeared unmoved by the purported threat. “From what it appears, this concerns a hypothesis that dates from 2010 which didn’t occur,” Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said in a statement. “It has therefore no relevance today and no reason for particular concern.”

 

The raids come at a time of heightened tension across Europe amid the rising influence of militant group Islamic State, which has attracted thousands of young men and women from across the world to join its cause in Syria and Iraq.

 

Recent terror attacks in Paris, Sydney and Copenhagen have left more than 20 dead, while detectives in Britain have made more than 200 terror-related arrests in the past year.

 

Warrants issued in Italy accuse the suspects of belonging to “an organisation dedicated to transnational criminal activities inspired by al-Qaida and other radical organisations pursuing armed struggle against the west and insurrection against the current government of Pakistan”.

 

Mario Carta, an officer in the anti-terrorism unit behind the investigation, said conversations in which the suspects had spoken “in ironic terms about the pope” had been wiretapped.

 

Other recordings suggest two members of the network were part of Bin Laden’s security detail before he was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in May 2011.

 

Key figures allegedly linked to the cell were an unidentified imam who carried out missionary work in Brescia and Bergamo in northern Italy.

 

Carta said there was evidence that the 2009 Peshawar attack was substantially planned and financed from Olbia, in Sardinia, and that Italy-based militants had taken part in it.

 

 

 

Vatican City and Rome. Prosecutors said wiretaps suggested the terror suspects planned an attack at the Vatican in 2010. Photograph: Sylvain Sonnet/Getty Images

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/osama-bin-ladens-purported-former-bodyguards-held-in-italian-terror-raids

[new york kevin]

God protects those who know Him as Lord and Savior. Yes my Christian Brothers and Sisters this includes those who are members of The Catholic Church.

My statement highlights one difference between Christianity and Islam. We may have different beliefs on how to worship the One True God the Lord Jesus Christ as evidenced by a multitude of different Christian Churches. At least we don't force anyone, Christian or otherwise, to worship our individual way least we wiggle His word to allow us to kill the people of a different Christian sect or a entirely different religion. We express our differences and respectfully tolerate each other, allowing God to work out any details, and not by the sword or gun, or bomb.

Evil exists in this world and Islamic terrorists are currently the prime example of this fact. Evil can and has taken position in many large Christian churches over the milennias, but true to God's word in the bible, God Himself has and will shake His House to separate the true believers from the false believers who would corrupt the Word. Baptists tolerate Catholics and neither tolerates the KKK who clothe themselves in Christianity.

Thank you Italian national security forces for being willing to stand in the line of fire and do your job investigating and ultimately arresting these criminals.

[umbertino]

Grazie for reading, NYK... Ciao

[nannab]

God Bless the Italian security forces and protect them.

Great job!

[umbertino]

God Bless the Italian security forces and protect them.

Great job!

Grazie nannab....Ciao

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

Dang, UMBE!    

 

One of 'OlSarge'sGal's people are from Sardinia...  they are of Sunni descent 

(like 10 generations back, so they've been 'good' Catholics for a long time now she say's !     )...

 

She says she's shocked her people didn't didn't catch these freaks, beat them to within an inch of their 

pitiful lives and drag them behind donkeys down the street until dead !

[umbertino]

***///

 

Dang, UMBE!  

 

One of 'OlSarge'sGal's people are from Sardinia...  they are of Sunni descent 

(like 10 generations back, so they've been 'good' Catholics for a long time now she say's !     )...

 

She says she's shocked her people didn't didn't catch these freaks, beat them to within an inch of their 

pitiful lives and drag them behind donkeys down the street until dead !

Wow...Interesting... Tell her I said hello...Ciao Paisa'!

 

I'm a li'l ashamed in candidly admitting I've never ( so far) visited Sardinia... Supposed to be beautiful...One day