Five Afghans Arrested Near US Embassy to Vatican

Five Afghan citizens were arrested late Monday afternoon near the United States embassy to Vatican in Rome, Interior Minister of Italy Claudio Scajola said in Genoa.

The five were carrying papers with routes marked on them, Scajola said.

Scajola warned against attaching too much significance to the arrests and said that they should be interpreted as a sign of Italy's careful monitoring of its territory.

The five Afghans, aged between 18 and 22, were arrested at about 2 p.m. for what police described as "strange behavior."

They were walking along a road in the vicinity of the U.S. embassy which overlooks the ancient chariot-racing circuit of Circus Maximus.

A map carried by one of the five had a route traced on it in pen leading from the wealthy northern district of Parioli, through the famous Via Veneto and ending in the Trastevere quarter south of the Vatican.

Questioning the youths proved impossible because they are apparently unable to speak any language other than their own.

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