Italy deports suspected militants

Fall Mamour said he had fought alongside Osama Bin Laden

Italy has ordered the expulsion of seven north Africans accused of links with militant Islamic groups.

It comes a day after the Interior Ministry said it was deporting a Senegalese imam who has publicly supported Osama Bin Laden.

The move signals a crackdown on Muslim militants following last week's suicide bomb attack on Italian soldiers in southern Iraq.

On Tuesday there was a state funeral for the 19 Italians killed.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that it was deporting six Moroccans and one Algerian "for grave reasons concerning state security and public order".

The ministry said some of them had received training in paramilitary camps and two have them had links with militants captured by US troops in Afghanistan.

Another was reported to have links with an Algerian militant group, the Salafi Group for Preaching and Fighting, which has been linked to al-Qaeda.

The Senegalese imam being deported, Fall Mamour, posed a "great threat" to state security, the ministry said.

'Blood pact'

The imam had predicted in a number of media interviews, weeks before the Nasiriya attack, that there would be attacks on Italian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said Italy's troops would be targeted because they were aiding the US-led coalition, adding that further strikes would then follow on Italian soil.

The 39-year-old imam was already being investigated for his financial deals, an interior ministry statement said. He is expected to be expelled within days.

"He (Mamour) was already known to authorities as somebody who received suspect funds," the ministry said.

"In addition, for a long time, and even more so since the slaughter of Italian soldiers in Nasiriya, he has launched dangerous initiatives, especially in the present context of international terrorism."

The statement said Mr Mamour had several aliases and was best known as the "imam of Carmagnola" - a suburb of the northern city of Turin.

Mr Mamour - who has lived in Italy for 11 years - has previously stirred controversy by his statements on Italian television programmes.

During a TV interview, he said he had once fought alongside Osama Bin Laden and was linked to the al-Qaeda leader by what he said was a "blood pact".