Italy on terror alert

Italy was put on a high level of alert for possible terrorist attacks even though no specific threats have been made, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday.

"The alert for Italy is high, even in the absence of a specific threat," ANSA news agency quoted Alfano as saying on the sidelines of a security conference in Brussels.

"This is because Italy is part of the big international coalition that is combatting terrorism, because it is the seat of Christianity (in Rome) and because of other important decisions that parliament has made in recent months," the minister said.

A senior police official said Monday that around 50 Italian nationals were fighting alongside the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group in Iraq and Syria.