Foreign Minister Angelino
Alfano said about Wednesday's terror attack in London that "if
it were terrorism, it would be a city struck again because we
know and recall that it's not the first time London has been
attacked.
"We don't have a possibility of lowering our guard".
Speaking on the sidelines of a US anti-ISIS summit, Alfano
said he had "activated all the foreign ministry's structures to
verify the possible presence, which we hope does not exist, of
co-nationals among the injured".
No Italians were involved in the attack, which killed at
least four people including the assailant, the Italian consulate
in the British capital said.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni is in constant touch with the foreign
ministry and the Italian embassy in London over developments in
the terror attack at Westminster. sources said.
Gentiloni said Italy "is close to the British people and
government regarding the attack that struck the heart of London
and its democratic institutions."
He said "I express the condolences of the Italian government
and my personal ones to the families of the victims, and our
sympathies with the injured. Italy and the United Kingdom are
side by side in condemning and firmly responding to all forms of
terrorism".
Four people including the assailant were killed and some 20
injured in the attack in London, Scotland Yard said.
The suspected terrorist, who was described as a 40-year-old
Asian, drove his SUV into a crowd on Westminster Bridge, killing
two people including a woman and injuring 20 others, some
critically, before stabbing dead a policeman in the British
Parliament compound.
The identity of the fourth victim is not yet known.
The assailant was shot dead after trying to get into
parliament, from which Premier Theresa May was evacuated.
Interior Minister Marco Minniti on Wednesday convened for
tomorrow morning an extraordinary meeting of Italy's strategic
anti-terrorism analysis committee (CASA).
Minniti will chair the meeting of police and intelligence
chiefs.
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