Italian police have detained seven suspected members of an anarchist group accused of planting bombs across Italy to undermine the country's democratic system.

Police in Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, who oversaw the operation together with Italy's anti-terrorism unit, said yesterday the seven were arrested for their role in an anarchist network called "FRARIA". They said FRARIA was also responsible for the small bombs that exploded in financial capital Milan and other cities in March, damaging cars and buildings but causing no casualties. The seven suspects from Cagliari, Rome, the northern city of Genoa and Foggia in southern Italy have been placed under house arrest, while another 16 people are under investigation.

A police statement described the group's aim as "terrorism and the subversion of the democratic order".

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