Italy is at risk from the growing activism of North African terrorist groups linked with al Qaeda, national Police Chief Antonio Manganelli told the House constitutional affairs committee on Thursday.
"Their recent offensives in North Africa have led to a deterioration of security in that region and we fear that they may now turn their attention to us," he told the MPs.
The police chief was reporting to parliament following the arrests last Saturday in Perugia of three Moroccans, including the Imam of a mosque in the central Italian city on terrorism charges.
In the operation, police seized films and computer files they said were used for combat training as well as an array of chemicals and manuals on bomb-making.
According to Manganelli, the cell in Perugia "was basically a training center which taught personal defense and the identification and use of chemicals in the preparation of explosive devices".
The activities of the Perugia cell "were similar to those used by the terrorists responsible for the bombs in London two years ago. The explosive devices used there were created using materials readily available in a supermarket or nursery, like fertilizer and household cleaning liquids".
These so-called 'do-it-yourself' terrorist cells, Manganelli observed, are dangerous because they consider themselves "part of a system more than part of an organization. This means that while they are not like Cosa Nostra, which has branches in different countries, their operating system is no less dangerous".
"Their system is more like operating a franchise, in this case an al Qaeda one," he added.
Earlier this month, the head of Italy's Carabinieri police corps, General Gianfranco Siazzu, also warned of the risk of attacks by North African terror groups linked to al Qaeda.
General Siazzu' reported to parliament after the June crackdown in Milan against an Italian-based cell of the 'al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb', previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
The group, which experts say now acts as al Qaeda's North African branch, claimed responsibility for April 11 bombings in Algiers that killed 33 people.
According to General Siazzu, the 'al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb' was focused on expanding cooperation between terror cells in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, exploiting discontent over the US-led war in Iraq and the situation in Afghanistan.
The general said the group was recruiting militants to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan or to plan and carry out attacks in European countries, Italy included.
