Terror suspects refuse to talk, say prosecutors (3)

(ANSA) - Milan, July 23 - Prosecutors said Thursday that two alleged supporters of terrorist group ISIS were refusing to answer questions related to suspicions they were plotting attacks on Italian targets. Tunisian Lassaad Briki and Pakistani Muhammad Waqas were arrested in Brescia on Wednesday after they posted plans for attacking Italian landmarks as well as a military base on their Twitter accounts.
    Prosecutors said the pair invoked their legal right to remain silent under questioning.
    "People of Rome, the choice of whether to die is up to you," they allegedly wrote in one post.
    Authorities allege the pair announced plans to attack churches as well as major sites such as Rome's ancient Colosseum and Milan's Duomo.
    It was also alleged the two wanted to travel to Syria to train and fight with the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group. The alleged terrorists also spoke of hitting the air base at Ghedi near Brescia - the base for anti-ISIS Tornados.
    The two me had created a Twitter account called 'Islamic_State in Roma' and allegedly planned terrorist actions, posting messages with photos of famous Italian sites in the background.
    "We are in your streets. We are everywhere. We are locating targets, waiting for time X," read some of the messages, written in Italian, Arabic and French.
    As part of the investigation, police acquired wiretaps of conversations between the men, who communicated in Italian as that was they only language they had in common.
    They allegedly discussed how to make a home-made bomb as set out in a jihadi manual titled How to Survive in the West, prosecution documents showed Wednesday. Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli said that in addition to the Ghedi military base in Brescia as a potential target, the pair also spoke of attacking the fruit shop where the Tunisian man worked as a cleaner, and also issued "generic threats against law enforcement".
    He said that there was never, however, "a real danger with the transition from words to action".