Italian police arrest three Algerian terror suspects

Italian police have arrested three Algerian Islamic extremists on suspicion of links with international terrorism, judicial sources said on Thursday.Italian media reports said police believed the three men, thought to be in their 30s, were "potentially operative" and ready to carry out an attack.

Italy, a close U.S. ally which has deployed troops in Iraq, has received numerous Internet threats purporting to be from Islamic militants, who have vowed to strike Italian interests.Judicial sources in the southern city of Naples said the Algerians were arrested on Tuesday night in Naples and the northern city of Brescia.

They said police believed the three had been in contact with a cell from Algeria's Salafist movement, which is thought to have links to al Qaeda.

They will appear later on Thursday before a judicial official known as a preliminary investigating magistrate who will decide if police have grounds to keep them in custody, reports the Reuters. I.L.