Italian police were searching Friday for a truck reported to have arrived from the Balkans loaded with high explosives, a senior official was quoted as saying.
"Anything could be the target of an attack at any moment, even a kindergarten," Alfredo Mantovano, a senior interior ministry official, told the newspaper Il Sole-24 Ore.
Italian state security had warned that "a heavy goods truck coming from the Balkans area may have crossed the Italian frontier," he said.
"We have mounted special checks especially in the northeast of the country and around the ports of Trieste and Ancona," the official was quoted as saying. These would remain in place until police were satisfied there was no threat.
"We know that in the (Balkans) region there is a vast concentration of weapons and explosives and several Islamic terrorist cells are active," the official said.
Special police anti-terrorism controls caused serious bottlenecks on Italian motorways Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
Police particularly fear a kamikaze-style attack by a truck in one of Italy's main road tunnels.
Special surveillance is being maintained at road links with neighbouring France, Switzerland Austria.
The interior ministry official said a decree detailing some 4,000 soldiers to held guard possible terrorist targets would be approved in a few days -- ROME (AFP)
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