Italy and France boost anti-terrorism measures

Italy and France announced yesterday they were boosting security to try to stave off terrorist attacks, as European governments watched the London bombing campaign with growing alarm.

Neither country has been recently targeted by Islamist militants but Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu suggested yesterday it might only be a matter of time before Italy was hit.

"The terrorist threat is with us every day," he told reporters, announcing a package of measures that will make it easier for police to expel suspects, improve surveillance of the internet and increase penalties for terrorist-related crimes.

"Islamic terrorists have long memories. They make threats and carry them out even after a lot of time has passed. We need to prepare ourselves for the worst," he said.

Italy is a close ally of the United States and has deployed 3,000 troops in Iraq. Militants have issued messages on the internet threatening to strike against Italy unless the troops are withdrawn, a move that the government has rejected.

Although France has firmly distanced itself from the US-led operations in Iraq, the government in Paris believes that it, too, could come under fire.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters yesterday France planned to reinforce its information-gathering procedures and crack down on militants.

He said that, although everyone in France had the right to practise their religion, "the age of the London suicide bombers shows the influence of radical preachers on fragile minds, which is not acceptable".

Speaking on the island of Corsica, he announced "an increase in funds for video surveillance, an acceleration in techniques for gathering telephone material and data storage and a reinforcement of early monitoring of radical elements".

Both Italy and France heightened security on their transport systems after the July 7 suicide bombings on London's bus and underground rail network, which killed more than 50 people.

The latest attacks on Thursday illustrated the difficulty Europe's police forces face in trying to keep their cities safe, often having to use antiquated laws to tackle a modern menace.

Among the measures unveiled by Italy yesterday was a new law making it illegal to prepare explosives for a terrorist attack or to train people how to use explosives.

Italian police will in future be given up to 24 hours to identify detainees rather than the previous 12 and will be able to take DNA samples from suspects who refuse to cooperate.