There are about a thousand
"potential jihadists" in Italy that police and intelligence
authorities have been continually monitoring over the past five
years, a preview of an article by L'Espresso magazine showed on
Thursday.
According to the article, investigators do not think an
assault on the scale of the November 13 attacks in Paris is
possible in Italy but they are "worried about the risk of
attacks in cities that are under lesser surveillance".
Authorities are concerned that "lone wolf" attackers could
target churches or historical monuments in smaller cities in the
centre and the north of the country.
The magazine's investigation found that militant Islamists
find it difficult to get hold of weapons in Italy, because the
majority of the clandestine weapons trade is in the hands of
organised crime and mafia groups who "avoid relationships with
these individuals".
This is one of the reasons why a planned attack like the
one in Paris, which involved a large number of accomplices,
would be unlikely to go unobserved in Italy.
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