President Sergio Mattarella said
Monday that Italy was a leading force in the battle to stop
extremist Islamist group ISIS.
"Italy is at the side of the countries that, on the other
side of the Mediterranean, are on the front line in the fight
against the obscurantism and barbarity," he told a conference of
ambassadors at the foreign ministry in Rome, referring to ISIS.
He added that: "fundamentalist terrorism is a serious
phenomenon that should be addressed in the right way, with
firmness and determination, while rejecting Islamophobic
impulses".
Mattarella also said that Italy was doing its utmost to
free four Italians taken hostage in Libya this month and Father
Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest taken captive in
Syria in 2013.
"The Italian commitment remains at the maximum level,"
Mattarella told the conference.
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