Italy will not be intimidated by threats from Muslim militants but cannot dismiss the possibility of an eventual attack, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Sunday, after a group claiming al Qaeda links vowed to strike.

The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades called on its fighters to hit "all targets" in Italy after its Aug. 15 deadline for Italian troops to quit Iraq was ignored.

Another Islamist group threatened to attack Italy and the Netherlands if they do not withdraw troops from Iraq, according to an Internet statement posted on Sunday.

The threat from a group calling itself Islamic Tawhid was posted as the deadline set by Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades expired. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the latest statement.

The Netherlands has 1,300 troops in Iraq.

Pisanu told reporters militants were using the media to hype their threats and played down reports that a van packed with explosives might have crossed into Italy from France.

"We are not underestimating (the threats) but we are not going to let ourselves be frightened and we will continue with the heightened security measures we have put in place," he said.

The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades has repeatedly threatened to hit Italy if it kept troops in Iraq and on Sunday said it would now put words into action.

"Today we have declared the start of a bloody war and, by the will of God, the ground will shake beneath the feet of each and every Italian," said a statement posted on the Internet.
 
US officials say the group's links to al Qaeda are unclear and some security analysts have questioned its credentials.

The same group last year said it was responsible for a blackout on the East Coast of the United States that was later shown to have been caused by technical problems.

However, Rome is worried that militants possibly based in Italy might act on the Internet messages and officials say security has been tightened across the country this holiday weekend.

"We do not rule out the risk that dormant or partially active terrorist groups, or even individuals might suddenly mobilize themselves and strike directly against the national territory, even without direct input from abroad," Pisanu said.

Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Sunday that police had launched a nationwide hunt for a white Ford transit van that crossed the French-Italian border on early on Saturday morning, amid fears that it might be packed with explosives.

The paper said a stretch of the Milan-Turin motorway in northern Italy was closed for more than an hour on Saturday evening after a sighting that turned out to be a false alarm.

Pisanu said the van was just one of a number of potential leads the security services were evaluating. "There is nothing particularly alarming," he added.

"By now, we know that nowhere in the world can be considered safe, but we will not let ourselves be overcome by fear."

Nineteen Italians were killed in Iraq last year when a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary police base in the southern city of Nassiriya.

(China Daily August 16, 2004)