More Italy terror probe arrests

Suspects have been held in four cities including Milan and Turin

Four more suspects have been arrested in a crackdown on ultra-left guerrilla group Red Brigades in northern Italy.

The arrests came after 15 people were charged with terror-related offences in a series of raids earlier this week.

Italy's government says the resurgent group plans to launch attacks on several domestic targets.

The Red Brigades were accused of hundreds of murders in the 1970s and 80s, including kidnapping and murdering Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

Fire-bomb plot

The four were arrested in Milan on Tuesday night on suspicion of "subversive propaganda".

They were allegedly caught putting up posters promoting the Red Brigades, bearing slogans such as "government of war and exploitation, the fight does not stop".

One of those held was the girlfriend of one of the 15 arrested earlier in the week.

The four face a maximum five years' jail if found guilty on charges of incitement to criminal acts.

The guerrilla group was preparing attacks on several targets, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said in parliament on Wednesday.

Weapons cache

The group was allegedly plotting to set fire to the Milan headquarters of the right-leaning newspaper Libero by April, and attack the home of a labour law expert.

Earlier this week Italian media reported they were planning to attack former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Milan residence, but Mr Amato said this was only a hypothetical plot.

The Red Brigades left their mark at the scene of a 2002 killing

The 15, who were arrested in a series of raids in Milan, Padua, Turin and Trieste on Monday, have been charged with associating with terrorists and participating in an armed group.

Seven of those arrested are members of Italy's main union body, the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL).

Investigators say they uncovered a weapons cache, including a loaded Kalashnikov buried in the garden of one of the suspects.

The Marxist Red Brigades were formed in the 1970s by students seeking armed resistance against the capitalist state.

Its latest incarnation rose to prominence after claiming responsibility for killing government consultants Massimo D'Antona in 1999 and Marco Biagi in 2002.