(supersedes previous)
Italian police have arrested four
people in a foreign fighter investigation, including a
Moroccan-born man living in Italy with orders from the so-called
Islamic State (ISIS) terror group to carry out attacks in Rome
during Holy Year, prosecutors said Thursday.
The man allegedly received a message urging him to commit
terror attacks in Italy, investigators said.
"Dear brother Abderrahim, I send you... the bomb poem...
listen to the sheik and strike," was the content of a WhatsApp
message to arrested suspect Abderrahim Moutahrrik, the
investigators said.
The sheik in question may be a reference to ISIS leader Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is usually called caliph, or to another
ISIS sheikh, experts said.
Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli told reporters that
investigators intercepted the communication from within
ISIS-held territory.
There was no indication any attacks were imminent and
Romanelli said authorities acted quickly to close the
investigation, arresting four people and issuing arrest warrants
for two others believed to be in ISIS territory.
"This is a new profile, because it was not a generic
indication, but an indication given to a specific person who was
invited to act within the territory of the Italian State,"
Romanelli said.
Authorities arrested Moutahrrick and his wife Salma
Bencharki, who allegedly were planning to travel from their home
in Lecco, north of Milan, to ISIS-held territory with their
children aged two and four.
Romanelli said Moutahrrick had taken Italian citizenship
and was an accomplished boxer.
Another Moroccan man who was planning to travel with them,
identified as Abderrahmane Khachia, 23, was arrested in the
northern city of Varese, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also issued arrest warrants for an
Italian-Moroccan couple who left to join ISIS last year with
three small children.
Romanelli said that man, identified as Mohamed Koraichi,
had become an ISIS fighter and had communicated the orders to
carry out attacks in Italy while making arrangements for the
other family to join the terror group.
The fourth arrest was of Koraichi's sister, prosecutors
said.
Premier Matteo Renzi used Twitter to thank the authorities
involved in the anti-terror operation.
"Very important anti-extremist operation in north this
morning," Renzi said via his @matteorenzi account. "Compliments
to the ministry, intelligence (services), investigators and
police forces #alltogether (#tuttiinsieme)".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA