FBI warns 3 targets at risk

(ANSA) - Rome, November 19 - The FBI has warned the Italian authorities that St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Milan cathedral and the La Scala opera house are among the potential targets of Islamist terrorists, ANSA sources said. The FBI also gave the Italian authorities the names of five Arab individuals who could be in Italy and should be searched for, the sources said.
    As signs of terror 'psychosis' or hysteria emerged with three bomb scares on the Rome metro and one at Milan's Duomo station, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said authorities and security services were working as hard as they could to find the five suspects. The United States embassy in Rome late on Wednesday released a security message to the same effect as the FBI alert following last week's attacks by Islamist terrorists in Paris in which 129 people died.
    "U.S. Embassy Rome informs U.S. citizens that the following locations have been identified as potential targets in Rome and Milan for terrorist attacks: St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City (Rome), The Duomo and La Scala in Milan".
    It added that general venues such as churches, synagogues, restaurants, theatres, and hotels in both cities are possible targets as well "Terrorist groups may possibly utilize similar methods used in the recent Paris attacks," it said. "The Italian authorities are aware of these threats.
    "U.S. citizens are advised to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings. "We encourage U.S. citizens to monitor media and local information sources and factor updated information into personal travel plans and activities".
    As well as saying Italy was striving to find the five named individuals, Gentiloni also ruled out the possibility that Italy or its Western allies will send ground troops to Syria to combat ISIS. "No one will lay their boots in Syria," Gentiloni told State broadcaster RAI. "Not (French President Francois) Hollande, nor (US President Barack) Obama, nor us". "We are prepared to help out French brothers, but neither us, not them, nor the Americans will carry out a Syrian expedition. "I don't believe France will dispatch a military task force to Syria. We are all aware, France included, that the solution to the Syrian crisis is a political solution. We don't need to repeat mistakes already made in Iraq or Libya", added Gentiloni. "We can find a path to remove Assad without leaving a void that nowadays would be occupied by Daesh or al-Nusra, two terrorist organisations.
    "This is our job in Syria and it must be undertaken with steady resolve, without particularly bombastic proclamations".
    Gentiloni raised the possibility of "coordination" with Russia in a possible future alliance against Islamic State.
    "We consider the prospect to be a useful development," Gentiloni said. Such a possibility might have seemed "science fiction" only two or three months ago, he added. Earlier this week Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti ruled out the possibility of Italy conducting military operations against ISIS in Syria, but said that Rome was increasing the number of Italian soldiers involved in training in Iraq. Gentiloni also said the US embassy in Rome has advised tourists to remain vigilant in certain locations in Italy but not to refrain from travelling there.
    "This makes the difference," Gentiloni added in reference to the security note issued by the embassy earlier in the day warning that St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Duomo and La Scala in Milan are among potential targets for terrorist attacks. "I believe the interior minister has said on several occasions that the level of alert is very high," Gentiloni continued. "We always take security warnings very seriously, especially in the case of the United States," he added.
    "However, I repeat: first, we must not become prisoners of this alarm because it would be a gift to Daesh (ISIS); second, the alarm in Italy exists, there is no European country that can consider itself to be outside this dynamic," Gentiloni said.
    Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the government would not underestimate the FBI terror alert on St Peter's, the Milan Duomo and La Scala but neither would it give in to "alarmism". He said "the level of alert is what we announced and our guard...is even stronger since yesterday afternoon".
    Security has already been beefed up in Rome.
    Security is also to be ratcheted up in Milan with an additional 250 police officers present on the city streets for around a month, ANSA sources said Thursday.
    More personnel will also be brought in to monitor the images captured by video surveillance cameras around the city.
    The measures, designed to boost security in the busy run-up to Christmas and for the opening of the 2015-2016 season at La Scala opera house on December 7, were finalised at a meeting in the prefecture later in the day.