Italy arrests Tajik man suspected of belonging to Islamic State

ROME (Reuters) – Italian police on Monday arrested a man from Tajikistan wanted for terrorism-related crimes and suspected of being an active member of the Islamic State militant group, a police statement said.

The man, described as a fugitive targeted by an international arrest warrant, was stopped after landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport from Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

He was identified only by his initials, “S.I.”.

Italian authorities did not make any reference to Russia and to last month’s deadly attack on a concert hall outside Moscow, for which several Tajiks living in Russia have been arrested.

The police statement did not say which country had issued the warrant for him. It said the suspect used several fake identities, including from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

The statement also said the man was born in 1992 and had enrolled in 2014 as a foreign fighter for the Islamic State in Syria.