Italian police arrest more anarchist bomb suspects

Italian police have uncovered a "vast and dangerous" anarchist network responsible for a string of bombings, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said yesterday, after the arrests of five suspected militants.

The five are accused of organising an overnight bomb attack on a regional court last year.

Police also carried out over 100 raids in several regions as part of a wider probe.

Italy's "most dangerous subversive organisation" was dealt a blow by the raids, Mr Pisanu said in a statement. "The probes carried out recently are revealing a vast and dangerous association that aims to subvert the economic and social order of the state."

The nationwide investigation was started after letter bombs were sent to several political and police offices in 2003. Since then, there has been a string of similar blasts, mostly small bombs that damaged property.

A bomb exploded at night in front of a court in Viterbo near Rome in January 2004, smashing glass and knocking out electric entrance controls but causing no casualties.

"All five are accused of being co-authors of the attack on the Viterbo regional court," the police said in a statement.

They said three of the five were accused of being members of the nationwide anarchist network.

On Tuesday, a letter bomb blew up in a police station in the northern city of Turin, slightly injuring a policeman, while another explosive package was intercepted elsewhere before it could go off.