40 'Islamists' held in Italy

The operation conducted on Thursday and Friday involved 14 Italian provinces and focused "on places frequented by Islamists" such as "centers for telephone calls, Internet access and centers for transferring money overseas, the ministry said in a statement.

Twenty-eight of the detainees were arrested for violating their residency permits, while 15 search operations had been launched in "foreigners' apartments, almost all Pakistanis, in a joint operation with the Belgian police", the ministry said.

The Belgian authorities are investigating a group of Pakistanis suspected of financing terrorist training by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group also active in Jammu and Kashmir, still considered a region of jihad (holy war), the ministry said.

It was not immediately known if any of the 40 people arrested had any connection with the alleged plot uncovered by British police.