After France stepped up security measures, the Italian Ministry of the Interior on Monday decided to step up counter-terrorist surveillance in Italy, following the attack in Moscow in which terrorists killed at least 137 people, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility.
During a meeting at the Ministry of the Interior, the National Committee for Public Order and Security concluded that “it is important to continue the extensive surveillance activities of the police and intelligence forces, including on the Internet, in order to identify possible risky situations on the national territory” and that surveillance should be especially strengthened in during the Easter holidays and in locations where a large number of people gather, writes the Italian agency Ansa.
Italian State Secretary Alfredo Mantovano said on Sunday that the main terrorist threat to Italy is “lone wolves” and not organized groups like the one that attacked a concert hall in Moscow on Friday.
“The threat is not so much from organized groups. I believe that a group like the one that acted in the attack on Moscow, which had to be trained and have logistical support, would have been intercepted in Italy sooner,” Mantovano told RAI television.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced earlier Monday, after a meeting of senior security and defense officials with President Emmanuel Macron, that the government had raised its terror alert to the highest level.
Attal said in a post on X that the decision, which comes months before Paris is set to host the Olympics, was made “in light of the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attack in Moscow and the threats pressing our country.”
France’s terror alert has three levels, with the highest level being activated ahead of an attack in France or abroad when the threat of an attack is imminent.
This allows for the introduction of extraordinary security measures such as increased patrols by the armed forces in public places such as railway stations, airports and religious sites, Hina news agency writes.
