Italy arrests man over planned air attack in Iraq

MILAN, Sept 28 (Reuters) Italian police today arrested an Iraqi man on suspicion of preparing an armed attack in Iraq using ultra-light aircraft and charged him with belonging to a group linked to al Qaeda.

A police special operations group arrested the man who lived in Padua, northeastern Italy, as he was trying to board a flight in Venice to travel to Iraq via Romania and Syria.

They said he had arranged to buy an unspecified number of ultra-light aircraft from an Italian firm which he planned to pack with explosives and use for an attack.

The man, identified by local media as a 35-year-old Iraqi who lived by selling kebabs, was being held on charges of''association for the purposes of international terrorism''.

REUTERS SS KN1915