ROME (Sputnik) — Eighteen suspected al-Qaeda militants arrested in Italy Friday were allegedly plotting a terrorist attack at the Vatican in 2010, La Repubblica newspaper reported, citing one of the prosecutors investigating the case.
According to Cagliari Chief Prosecutor Mauro Mura, the terror attack against the Vatican could have been planned in March 2010, when a Pakistani suicide bomber was in Italy, the newspaper said.
Intercepted phone calls between alleged members of the terrorist network in Italy indicated there were direct contacts with former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, killed in 2011.
The newspaper specified, citing law enforcement agencies, that an attack against the Vatican could have been conducted by a suicide bomber.
The arrested militants were also alleged to be involved in a number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including a Peshawar October 2009 attack, in which a car bomb was detonated in a market for women and children claiming more than hundred lives.
According to the paper, the terrorists used fake documents to arrive in Italy, including posing as refugees.
