Cosenza, (AKI) - A North African man, detained in a southern Italian prison for minor offences, has revealed that he came to Italy to 'carry out a suicide attack in a big city, a symbolic location'. The man, whose name and nationality have not been revealed, began collaborating with the authorities recently, but news of this only emerged in the Italian media on Wednesday. Senior anti-terrorism police, magistrates and intelligence officials are meeting in the southern Calabrian region on Thursday to discuss the implications of his confessions.
The news was broken by a local newspaper, Il Quotidiano della Calabria, on Wednesday and confirmed by investigators who said the man was cooperating with them, but declined to give details of his identity or the credibility and timing of his confesssion.
"I entered Italy so I could blow myself up. I came via the sea. I was supposed to strike a symbolic city," the young Muslim man reportedly told the regional head of the DIGOS, Italy's main anti-terror police. | Vatican City comes to mind as a symbol |
For security reason, the man has been transferred from the jail in the town of Paola, Calabria. Police have been combing the local area, interviewing many immigrants, including five owners of Internet points, where e-mails in the memory of on a dozen computers have been checked. |