Italian police arrest 18 suspects for Al Qaeda link

 Italian police on Friday arrested 18 people in a "vast" operation against a group allegedly inspired by the Al Qaeda.

All those arrested were Pakistanis and Afghans, police said

The group was based on the island of Sardinia and was plotting attacks against Pakistan's government and US forces in Afghanistan, according to police.

Most of the arrests were made in Sardinia but the operation covered seven Italian provinces, police said.

Some of the those arrested are alleged to be responsible for terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including an attack in 2009 on a market in the northwest frontier city of Peshawar that killed more than 100 people, according to the police.

Following the report, the Pakistan foreign office said that its embassy in Rome was in contact with the Italian government to get details regarding the arrest of the suspected terrorists.

In a statement issued on its Twitter page, foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said that the embassy was also inquiring about the nationalities of the terrorists. - IANS