ROME – Police revealed on Friday more details about anti-terrorist operations carried out in several European countries. Thirteen out of the 17 people suspected of alleged terrorist activities were arrested in Italy and other European countries on Thursday, said police. Among the detainees are Kurds from Iraq and one citizen of Kosovo, seven of whom were arrested in Italy. "It was the biggest police operation in Europe in 20 years," police highlight.

  The anti-terrorist operations, the details of which were presented during a press conference in Rome, were carried out in the Italian cities of Bolzano, Parma and Brescia and in Sweden, Norway, Great Britain and Switzerland.

  Investigators found out that some of the people that were intended to be arrested had in fact died during the fights in Syria and Iraq. A Jihadist organisation with subsidiaries around Europe was run by Fraj Ahmad Najmuddin, who led terrorist activities from prison. Najmuddin founded the terrorist network Ansar Al-Islam, which entered into an alliance with Islamic State. The group was planning attacks on politicians in Norway as a revenge for the arrest of its leader.

  Carabinieri from the department for special operations reported that the disbanded group was very dangerous, mainly because it has retained the traditional structure with a clear hierarchy system.

  Moreover, the Carabinieri investigation shows that the main purpose of the terrorists, who were based in Italy, was to spread Jihadist ideology and recruit new people to the front in Iraq and Syria. There was no threat of an attack in Italy.