Italian military intelligence service (SISMI) told parliament on Thursday that Italy is at serious risk of a terrorist attack.

SISMI chief Enzo Nicolo Pollari told the Parliamentary Committee of Secret Services Control (COPACO) that terrorist cells were "potentially able to strike Italy".

"This is why, without wishing to scaremonger, we believe Italy is at risk," said Enzo Bianco.

The COPACO chair explained that this concern partly stemmed from the fact that the London bombers were probably part of an international network.

"We're trying to clarify whether the cell that hit London was merely local - in other words composed solely of British-born Muslims - or whether it was overseen by a distant organization," said Enzo Bianco.

"If the latter were true, it would raise the levels of alert for other countries, including our own. Our feeling is that it would have been impossible for local cells to organize this kind of operation, meaning a much larger network was involved."

But Bianco stressed that SISMI had given no precise details of a definite attack.

"Rather, intelligence analyses suggests that Italy is a possible target. We won't know when and how they will attack," he said.

SISMI's report followed a nationwide anti-terrorist sweep on Wednesday, which led to 174 people being detained.

Source: Xinhua