Italian, Spanish police arrest suspected Islamic State supporters

The Italian police arrested two men -- a Tunisian and a Pakistani -- on Wednesday on the suspicion that they were plotting attacks in the country and were circulating threatening messages on the internet to display their support of Islamic State.

The Italian police arrested two men -- a Tunisian and a Pakistani -- on Wednesday on the suspicion that they were plotting attacks in the country and were circulating threatening messages on the internet to display their support of Islamic State.

The men were arrested in Brescia, a small city near Milan, police said in a statement, without naming either man.

It said the Tunisian man, 35, had created a Twitter account from which he posted "threatening messages signed Islamic State" with the backdrop of famous landmarks such as Rome's Colosseum and Milan's cathedral.

Italian security forces have for months been on high alert against attacks at embassies, synagogues, churches, the Vatican and areas usually crowded with tourists.

Meanwhile, the Spanish police, with the aid of Moroccan authorities, arrested a man accused of propagating and recruiting for the Islamic State group, the Spanish Interior ministry said on Wednesday. The 29-old-man, a native of the Spanish-north African enclave Melilla, was arrested as part of a police operation against networks dedicated to capturing and sending girls and young women to Syria and Iraq, the ministry said.

The Spanish authorities had also arrested a woman on July 07 in the Canary Islands accused of radicalising and sending young women to Islamist militants in the middle east.

Spain has arrested 49 people this year, including the man detained on Wednesday, over suspected Islamist militant activities.