POLICE swooped on suspected Islamic militant groups in five European countries yesterday in a bid to prevent terrorist attacks during the World Cup.
At least 88 people were rounded up in the co-ordinated raids in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.
Police forces from Britain and the Netherlands also assisted in the operation, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The raids were designed to isolate Islamic groups from one another during the June 10-July 12 tournament.
There are fears that extremists, and Algeria's Armed Islamic Group in particular - believed to be involved in the 1995 Paris subway bombing that killed eight people - are planning a campaign of terror.
Seven suspected members of a European-based network for the group, known as GIA, were arrested in Brussels in March, and recently French police discovered a bomb similar to those used during the wave of attacks in the summer of 1995.
A French interior ministry statement said yesterday's operation followed several months of surveillance that led police to ''suspect the preparation of terrorist activity in the run-up to the World Cup''.
The statement added that the operation was aimed at dismantling ''a network of dissident extremists'' from GIA, described as the most violent faction in Algeria seeking to install strict Muslim rule in the North African country.
French police said the swoops targeted networks loyal to dissident GIA leader Hassan Hattab, who allegedly wants to bring the Algerian conflict to Europe. Two men considered to be Hattab's top allies in Europe were detained.
The interior ministry said France's leading anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, led the Euro-wide operation, and #93,000, documents, a computer, and video cassettes showing training sessions and tracts espousing Hattab's ideas were seized. No weapons or bombs were found.
In France, local police forces led by anti-terrorist officers swooped at dawn with at least 53 alleged Islamic activists detained: 30 in the Paris region; a dozen in Marseilles, and others elsewhere - including Lyons, where the USA plays Iran on Sunday, June 21.
Concerns surrounding that game are such that an extra 3000 police will be drafted on to streets and into the stadium. Up to 50,000 European-based Iranians are expected, and they have lodged an application for a 15,000-strong demonstration before the match
In Belgium, police searched 10 locations in Brussels and one in Charleroi. In Germany, five apartments of Algerians suspected of providing explosives were raided in the Cologne area.
Nine alleged Algerian terrorists were arrested in Italy, and police found false documents and machinery to print them.
Milan prosecutor Stefano Dambruoso said there was ''worry that something could happen in Italy as well'', and added that there had been ''more and more talk about arms and false documents, passports and identity cards'' in conversations tapped in recent weeks among Islamic militants connected with the group Al Takfir, which means Anathema and Exile.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Switzerland told of a ''large police operation'' outside Zurich against Algerian nationals.
q Football hooligans involved in trouble at a match that was followed by the murder of a fan were yesterday banned from watching England play in the World Cup.
The 11 supporters pled guilty to public order offences including throwing coins, spitting, and offensive gestures at the Gilling-ham v Fulham game on March 28.
Fulham fan Matthew Fox, 24, died during a scuffle between rival fans after the match. A man has been charged with his murder.
The 11, from Kent, Surrey, London, and Essex, were given exclusion orders by Kent magistrates, banning them from attending England games for the next two years. They were also banned from any other matches in the UK for a year.
Mark Pugash, spokesman for Kent Police, said the men were arrested after analysis of video footage taken inside the Gillingham ground.
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