Italy beefs up security

Italy deploys 20,000 to protect sensitive targets

Italy increased security Thursday at 14,000 sites, and assigned bodyguards to protect 550 individuals after a nuclear energy company official was shot and letter bombs directed to the tax collection agency.

AJC,

17 May, 2012

Under the enhanced measures, Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri deployed 20,000 law enforcement officers to protect individuals and sensitive sites. In addition, 4,200 military personnel already assigned throughout Italy will be redeployed according to new priorities.

"Based on a thorough analysis of the situation, Interior Cancellieri has confirmed the need to maintain a high level of vigilance, strengthen the security measures against sensitive targets and those exposed to specific risks," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Authorities will also increase intelligence to "neutralize" the risk of subversive actions "that can be nourished in moments of tension," the statement added.

A group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Federation last week claimed responsibility for the shooting of Ansaldo Nucleare CEO Roberto Adinolfi, and pledged in a letter to the daily Corriere della Sera to carry out further actions against Ansaldo's parent company, the state-controlled Finmeccanica.

Italian anarchists sent a letter bomb that exploded at the Rome headquarters of the Equitalia tax collection agency last December, injuring the directory. FAI also claimed responsibility for a series of letter bombs sent to embassies in Rome in December 2010.

More recently, a letter bomb was intercepted at the same office this month, and a Molotov cocktail exploded outside an Equitalia office in Livorno. In addition, there have been numerous reports of letters with suspicious powdery substances sent to Equitalia offices.