Italian police raid homes in anti-terrorism sweep

Italian police searched homes in nine cities yesterday as part of an anti-terrorism sweep to gather evidence on 26 suspects, most of them Algerians.

No arrests were made and the Venice prosecutor leading the probe said his investigation was not at an advanced stage.

"You can't say that we have people accused of having ties to al Qaeda. If that were the case, we would have put them in prison," Venice Prosecutor Vittorio Borraccetti said.

Still, he said the individuals targeted in the investigation were suspected of having ties to terrorist organisations as well as aiding illegal immigration and handling stolen goods.

A police investigator said that the inquiry began at a mosque in the northern Italian city of Vicenza, near Venice, where Algerian radicals spoke of jihad and martyrdom. Police carried out searches at homes in the cities of Venice, Florence, Como, Vicenza, Padua, Brescia, Caserta, Cuneo and Trento.