Italy seeks cooperation on migration to weed out jihadists

Rome, Oct 25 (IANS/AKI) Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano has urged European and southern Mediterranean countries to cooperate with Italy to prevent jihadist foreign fighters entering the country from Syria and Iraq aboard migrant boats.

"Cooperation with other countries, including in the Mediterranean, is needed precisely to exchange the information needed for prevention," Alfano said in Palermo on the sidelines of an international conference on migration and related security issues.

There have been foreign fighters who have passed through or lived in Italy, although far fewer such cases have come to light here than in countries, Alfano said.

"However, as we know, you only need one individual to carry out a very serious attack. So the level of attention in this area remains very high," he said.

Alfano was in Palermo on Tuesday for a two-day meeting attended by representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 57 member-states and its six Mediterranean partners.

OCSE's Mediterranean partners are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

--IANS/AKI

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