Italian suspects discussed making firecracker bomb

ROME — Two men arrested on anti-terror charges this week discussed attacking Milan's Piazza del Duomo with bombs made of gunpowder from firecrackers but did not actually plan the attack, Italian police said Wednesday.

Leading newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica quoted police wiretaps of the suspects' conversations, which police confirmed as accurate.

"Over Christmas I will go to the Duomo and place some Chinese-made bombs," Ilhami Rachid, 34, was quoted as saying in Corriere della Sera. "The Chinese sell them ... they go 'Bang.'"

"With our money, we can buy even 100 or 200 of those," Rachid was quoted as saying.

An official with Milan's anti-terror office said officials believe the suspects wanted to extract the gunpowder from Chinese-made firecrackers in order create more potent explosive devices. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the two were stopped "long before the suspects could get the explosives."

The Moroccan nationals were picked up on Tuesday near Milan and held on a charge of international terrorism, which was introduced in Italy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States as part of the country's anti-terror measures. A conviction carries up to 15 years in prison.

Investigators say the men had no international connections. Police have not said whether the men have obtained lawyers.

Rachid was working as a welder while fellow suspect Ghafir Abdelkader, 42, was a bricklayer.

Other possible targets were a supermarket chain, a police barracks, a coffee bar and parking garage, according to investigators and news reports. Planning for attacks on some of these targets was preliminary, investigators have said.

Rachid was identified as the ringleader who preached at an Islamic cultural center in Macherio, a small town north of Milan where Premier Silvio Berlusconi owns a villa.

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