Terrorist Roundup In France and Italy

[Annie]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/09/26/europe.raids/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Anti-terror raids in France, Italy

PARIS, France (CNN) -- French police detained at least seven people early Monday suspected of plotting a "terrorist action" in France, authorities said.

Police raids took place around 6 a.m. (12 a.m. EDT) in at least two locations, including Trappes about 20 miles outside Paris. Among the items seized were computer equipment.

The action comes as the French government is considering a new law to substantially increase Internet, telephone and video surveillance, along with harsher punishments for those involved in terrorist activities.

The Associated Press reported officials as saying that a total of nine people had been detained in the Paris area and in Normandy in an anti-terror crackdown on a group suspected of having ties to fundamentalist Algerian militants.

French television station LCI said the group was suspected of planning attacks in France, AP reported.

Anti-terror judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere was questioning the suspects being held, CNN's Jim Bittermann reported. Judicial officials told AP the sweep was part of an investigation Bruguiere opened in July.

Those detained were suspected of being members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian militant group known by its French initials GSPC, AP reported.

Meanwhile, Italian authorities detained 11 Algerians in and around the northern city of Milan suspected of sending money to the GSPC, AP said.

Italian police searched some 20 apartments and offices believed linked to the suspects, said Mariano La Malfa, an official with the Milan financial police who led the operation.

It was not immediately clear whether the Italian and French raids were coordinated.

GSPC has declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, AP said.

The GSPC is the most structured group among Algerian Islamic insurgents battling the North African state since 1992 in a bid to topple the government. In recent years, it has turned its sights on jihad, or holy war, beyond Algerian borders, AP reported.

CNN's Jim Bittermann contributed to this report.

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