(By Paul Virgo).
Italy increased its already
intense security measures after 34 people were killed in
terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday.
Three Italian nationals were among over 200 injured in the
attacks at Maelbeek metro station near European Union
headquarters and Brussels' Zaventem airport.
They subsequently named as Chiara Burla, a 24-year-old
Florence resident; Marco Semenzato, an architect from Veneto who
had lived in Belgium for some time, and a Michele Venetico, a
young Brussels airport employee who is the child of Sicilian
migrants.
They were all allowed to leave hospital after receiving
treatment.
The authorities said at least 20 people were killed in the
metro attack.
Two of the Brussels airport attackers blew themselves up
and the third is a fugitive, Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic
Van Leuw told a press conference Tuesday.
The man was caught on surveillance cameras wearing a
light-coloured jacket and hat while his two companions were all
dressed in black.
The Islamic State (ISIS) group, which was behind Novembers
terrorist attacks in Paris, has claimed responsibility for the
attacks, several sources said.
A "secret cell" carried out the Brussels terror attacks
that killed 34, the ISIS network Amaq News said in claiming
responsibility for the attacks Tuesday.
"What awaits you will be even harsher and more bitter," it
said.
ISIS's claim of responsibility is "information still to be
verified", Belgium's federal prosecutor said on TV.
But prosecutors was also quoted as saying that a bomb
containing nails, chemical products and an ISIS flag were found
in searches in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels.
Rail traffic between Germany and Belgium was interrupted
after the attacks, and the border between Belgium and France was
shut down.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced the
deployment of a further 1,600 police officers throughout France
in response to the Brussels attacks.
The foreign ministry urged Italians in Brussels to "avoid
going anywhere at the moment" and said its crisis unit is
"active".
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that Italy's level
of alert remains at two on a scale of three, but added that
security around potential targets has been beefed up.
"We maintain alert level two, the one below the level when
an attack is taking place," Alfano told a news conference after
a meeting of security officials.
"I have also authorised measures to reinforce the security
of sensitive targets and there will be other expulsions of
subjects who have not respected the rules of our country".
Alfano said that an Iraqi national known to the French and
Belgian authorities after making contact with terrorists was
arrested in Naples on Tuesday.
He said that no country could consider itself "zero risk"
for terrorism, but added that "up to now our prevention system
has worked well".
The EU must set up "an integrated control system" for all
member States, Alfano said after a meeting of the national
public-order and security committee.
Alitalia cancelled all Tuesday flights in and out of
Brussels and more flights will be scrapped on Wednesday.
The Vatican said Pope Francis's Easter schedule will not
be affected by the attacks.
Italian intelligence sources said that the risk of such
attacks in Italy remains high although there are no signs of an
imminent action.
The intelligence sources said the deadly attacks in
Belgium came as no surprise, given that intelligence analysts
had indicated a high risk of fresh attacks in Europe in the wake
of the November 13 Islamist attacks in Paris that killed 130
people.
Belgium and France are both at high risk due to their high
numbers of radicalized Muslim citizens or residents and the fact
that they house EU institutions.
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