Twelve Arrested In Anti-Terror Raids Across France And Italy

Naples, ITALY: Algerian-born Mellouk Djelloul (C) and countryman Chouimet Amirouce (C/top) are escorted by Italian policemen, after being arrested in Naples, 19 April 2006. Djelloul and Amirouce are suspected of international terrorism. Anti-terrorism police arrested 12 people Wednesday in coordinated raids in France and Italy, as part of a probe into the financing of Islamic extremist groups. French and Italian anti-terrorism investigators suspect them of financing Islamic extremists -- particularly the the Islamic fundamentalist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) -- via a range of criminal activities, including supplying forged documents to illegal immigrants, the sources said.

Naples, ITALY: Algerian-born Chouimet Amirouce (C) is escorted in a car by Italian policemen, after being arrested in Naples, 19 April 2006. Amirouce is suspected of international terrorism. Anti-terrorism police arrested 12 people Wednesday in coordinated raids in France and Italy, as part of a probe into the financing of Islamic extremist groups.

Naples, ITALY: Algerian-born Bounoula Redouane (C) is escorted by two Italian policemen, after being arrested in Naples, 19 April 2006. Redouane is suspected of international terrorism. Anti-terrorism police arrested 12 people Wednesday in coordinated raids in France and Italy, as part of a probe into the financing of Islamic extremist groups.




Anti-terrorism police arrested 11 people in coordinated raids in France and Italy, as part of a probe into the financing of Islamic extremist groups. File picture shows French police taking part in a counter-terrorism exercise.

Terror raids in France and Italy

French and Italian police have arrested 11 people in a joint operation against groups suspected of helping fund Islamic terrorism.

The suspects, who are mainly Algerian, were detained during raids near Naples, Milan and Marseille.

The suspects are thought to have links to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat - an armed splinter organisation operating mainly in eastern Algeria.

They are also alleged to be involved in forgery and illegal immigration.

The Salafist group is known to have links to al-Qaeda.

Italy has been on a state of high alert since the beginning of the year.

During the Italian election campaign, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu announced that the authorities had foiled two planned terrorist attacks, one on the underground in Milan and the other on a church in Bologna.
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