Italy's interior minister today said authorities had thwarted planned terrorist attacks against a church in Bologna and Milan's subway.
"There was a terrorist plot that was to be carried out in our country and the monitoring and prevention action of our forces allowed us to thwart it," Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told news agency ANSA.
Mr Pisanu spoke at a political rally in Sardinia and said the plot involved seven people. Three people had been expelled from Italy, two had been arrested, one was under surveillance and one was at large, ANSA reported, without saying when the operations took place.
Mr Pisanu's office did not immediately confirm the details on the alleged plotters.
The Bologna basilica that was among the planned targets contains a 15-century fresco that Muslim groups have interpreted as insulting Islam because it depicts Islam's Prophet Mohammed in hell being devoured by demons.
AP