ROME, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted murder and terrorism after a young Italian man was critically wounded in Tuesday night's Strasbourg attack, Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.
Antonio Megalizzi, 28, a radio journalist from the northern Italian city of Rovereto, was shot in the head during the attack at the Strasbourg Christmas market that left at least two dead and a dozen wounded, La Repubblica newspaper reported.
"I am deeply saddened by the critical condition of our fellow countryman Antonio Megalizzi, who was gravely wounded in the Strasbourg attack," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on Twitter.
Daniele Moresco, father of Antonio Megalizzi's girlfriend Luana, told Italian news agency ANSA that the radio journalist is in a coma and is inoperable because the bullet lodged near his spinal cord.
Speaking to ANSA in Jerusalem where he is on an official visit, Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said that Italian police are "combing through the Internet" for anyone hailing the Strasbourg attack online, and called for their "immediate arrest".
Also on Wednesday, the Strategic Anti-Terrorism Analysis Committee (CASA) held an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry in Rome, in which it was decided to ramp up security measures to the maximum level ahead of the Christmas holiday across the country, according to ANSA.
CASA analysts have at the moment ruled out any links between the Strasbourg attacker and Italy, the report said.
National Police Chief Franco Gabrielli told ANSA that the Strasbourg attack is "an alarm bell" and that while Italy's terrorism prevention policies cannot always be publicly reported, the country has deported 360 extremist sympathizers as of January 2015.
In late November, Italian anti-terrorism police arrested a man on suspicion of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack by poisoning the public water supply.
Italy's strategy of surveillance combined with its unusual policy of deporting suspected terrorists before they get a chance to act has been credited with preventing deadly attacks such as those that have occurred in other European countries.
