Al-Qaeda cell planned suicide attack on Vatican

ROME — Italian police busted an al-Qaeda-linked terror ring that planned, but never carried out, an attack on the Vatican five years ago and is believed to have been involved in a bombing in Pakistan that killed more than 100 people, authorities said Friday.

Raids were carried out simultaneously in seven different Italian provinces with arrest warrants for 18 suspected Islamic extremists following a lengthy investigation in Cagliari, capital of the Italian island Sardinia.

Authorities uncovered plans for a suicide bomber plot against the Vatican in 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI was pontiff. Evidence includes a "martyr's vow" from a would-be suicide bomber threatening to strike against the Vatican, the spiritual focal point for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Mario Carta, an official from the counter-terror police force that carried out the raids, called it "one of the most important operations ever carried out in Italy." Police said the operation targeted an "extremely well-structured terror network" based in Sardinia since at least 2005 that was made up of Pakistani and Afghan nationals.

Nine people have been arrested, and two are still at large in Italy. Seven of the suspects are believed to be in Pakistan, Carta said.

Italy has mostly escaped terror attacks that have impacted other European countries, including Britain, France and Spain. Plots have also been foiled by authorities recently in France, the United States and Australia. Concerns were raised earlier this year when the Islamic State issued a video threat to Italy that warned, "We are south of Rome."

Wiretaps show the Italian terror cell had a strong connection to al-Qaeda, with references to the whereabouts to Osama bin Laden when he was alive, Carta said. "They were connected with al-Qaeda at the highest level," he said.

Mauro Mura, one of the lead prosecutors in Sardinia, said the wiretaps gave "signals of some preparation for a possible attack" at the Vatican, including the arrival of a suicide bomber in Rome. However, the plan never went any further and the suicide bomber left Italy, though it wasn't clear why.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi downplayed the 2010 plan Friday, saying it did not raise concerns because "it seems to have been a proposal they did not follow up on."

The terror ring is believed to have been involved in the 2009 bombing of an outdoor market in Peshawar, Pakistan, that left more than 100 people dead. The cell also raised money to cover travel costs and buy weapons for terror plots outside Italy.

Mura said most of the data was collected between 2005 and 2012. After that, Mura said he believes members of the network became aware that their computers and phones were being monitored and started to communicate by other means. Since then, he said, police had tracked the whereabouts of the members, seeking the right time to strike.

Despite the group's deep roots in the country, Italians say they aren't worried. "I don't think we should live in fear," said 55-year-old Mauro della Seta, a postal worker in Rome. "Their goal is to frighten us."

Andrea Malandruca, 23, a student, agreed: "Our police and security forces have kept us safe so far," he said.