Italian police have arrested seven people accused of belonging to an anarchist militant network and carrying out sabotage on a high-speed railway line during the Winter Olympics in February.
In a statement on Tuesday, police said a judge had ordered five suspects to be held in prison and two placed under house arrest, with the charges including terrorist association and subversion of the democratic order.
Police said two of those arrested were accused of taking part in a 14 February attack on the Rome-Florence high-speed rail line.
According to investigators, the sabotage was carried out using improvised explosive devices, causing severe damage to infrastructure estimated at €455,000 (£393,000), and leading to train delays of more than an hour during the Milan-Cortina Games.
“The sabotage, along with another attack carried out at the same time on the Rome-Naples line, was claimed on the website ispiraazione.noblogs.org, created specifically a few months earlier,” police said.
Police added that the anarchist group’s statement explicitly referred to the timing of the Milan-Cortina Games, as well as to anti-militarist aims and violent attacks on infrastructure.
According to police, the group was based in Rome but maintained links with other cells in the cities of Bologna, Milan and Naples.
Rome prosecutors also issued a number of search warrants against other suspects under investigation in several Italian cities.
A 40-page statement posted on the website cited by police also claims responsibility for a sabotage attack on the Transalpine Pipeline in March.
Reuters
