国际英语新闻:Italy on alert for possible terror attacks: authorities

ROME, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Italy is on alert for possible terrorist attacks from radical militants, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Monday.

A senior official revealed earlier that some 50 Italians have joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria and Iraq.

The terrorist alert for Italy is "extremely high, even in the absence of a specific threat," Alfano was quoted as saying by local media while speaking at the sidelines of a security conference in Brussels.

Though Italy is not conducting air strikes (against IS targets in Iraq), it is part of the big international coalition that is combating terrorism, Alfano noted.

Alfano stressed he has prepared new "very strict rules" that he will submit to the Italian government and parliament to better fight terrorism.

The new rules, he explained, include more police checks on people considered "at risk" and harsher punishment for those who try to join militant groups abroad.

Also on Monday, the head of the International Antiterrorism Division of Italian preventative policing unit UCIGOS, Claudio Galzerano, said in a television interview that dozens of Italian nationals have joined the IS group.

"A consolidated list has been created that enables us to know the exact size of the phenomenon in all of its various nuances," he told Sky television, detailing that the Italian nationals currently involved in the "terrorist activities" are "under 50."

Galzerano said there is a "precise count" of how many Italians have left the country to fight alongside the IS thanks to the "very good osmosis between the intelligence side and law enforcement in Italy."