ROME, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Italy would still face a tangible risk of terror attacks perpetrated by radicals, the country's intelligence service warned on Tuesday.
"Our country is exposed to hostile propaganda activity by Daesh (an acronym for the so-called Islamic State group)," the intelligence said in its annual security report to the parliament.
Individuals who have become radicalized -- and "Italian-born Islamic cybernauts" among them -- or people at least vulnerable to a process of radicalization were still detected in the country across 2017, according to the report. As such, "the (terror) threat in Italy remains concrete and present," the intelligence warned.
A specific attention was being paid to "the danger represented by home-grown radical extremists," which might operate on the base of personal motives, or under the influence of external "terror minds".
Italy -- due to its history and geography -- remained most exposed to unrests and geo-political events taking place in the larger Mediterranean area, which has witnessed low and medium-intensity conflicts in recent years, the report highlighted.
Yet, the country has also started more recently to feel the critical effects of global events occurring in areas much further away. Overall, the Italian intelligence still saw the terror threat as a top security priority. "The year that has just passed reinforced our awareness that Islamic radicalism remains a first-order threat, despite the significant losses suffered by Daesh (in Iraq and Syria)," the report stressed.
On Monday, the Interior Ministry made known a 27-year-old Tunisian was expelled and repatriated to his home country for security reasons. His presence in Italy had been flagged by Tunisian authorities, which reported to their Italian counterparts about his alleged links to the Islamic State group, the ministry said in a statement.
Some 257 foreign citizens living in Italy were expelled on suspicion of religious radicalism since January 2015, and 20 of them in 2018 only, the ministry added.
Besides terrorism, the intelligence report to the parliament warned of several other potential threats to the country's security. Among these was the increased presence in Italy of far-right groups characterized by racism and intolerance.
"New groups have been born, which have a firm grasp on the youngest especially," and the better organized among such groups would not lack "connections with fierce Neo-Nazi networks," the report said.
Finally, the security services warned cyber-attacks aimed at influencing public opinion and the choice of citizens might increase, ahead of the general elections scheduled on March 4.
