Italy busts large-scale Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist ring

Italian police detained 18 suspects of a well-structured Al-Qaeda-inspired terror network, composed of Pakistani and Afghan nationals, and including former guards of Osama bin Laden, whom US commandos killed in 2011. The network, believed to have been operating out of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia since 2005, is accused of involvement in anti-government attacks in Pakistan, targeting US forces in Afghanistan and a plot to assassinate Pope Benedict XVII in 2010. Italian officials said the group had been fundraising across Italy and smuggling the money into Pakistan to finance terror operations there.