Italy's security forces are ramping up measures to prevent attacks in the country and police have held anti-terrorism drills in Rome, in the northern city of Bologna and in the northwest port city of Genoa, the country's interior minister Marco Minniti said on Thursday.
"Italian counter-terrorism police units met to plan and carry out joint exercises held simultaneously in three different cities and in complex and varied operational scenarios," said Minniti.
"The overnight exercises simulated terror attacks took place in Rome in an underground station, in Bologna in a car park beneath the city's high-speed train station and at one of the embarkation areas of Genoa's port," Minniti said.
Over 150 security personnel took part in the joint exercises aimed at testing the ability and speed of police to respond to an attack, he said, without elaborating further.
The exercises "had a positive outcome," Minniti stated.
Several Italians were killed in the van attack last month on Barcelona's Las Rambas shopping street, allegedly staged by a Moroccan-born Islamist who grew up in Spain. After the attack, the Islamic State jihadist group threatened Italy, warning it would be "next".
IS also took credit for the attack, claiming it was carried out by one of its "solidiers" to pay back nations taking part in the US-led coalition battling the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria
Embassies, airports, churches and tourist destinations in Italy were put under police and army surveillance in Italy after the Barcelona attack.
