Story highlights Spokesman: Talk of 2010 Vatican plot is "not relevant today," there's no cause for alarm

Report: Search of alleged al Qaeda affiliate's home may have foiled Vatican attack

Some suspects had been under surveillance for years; raids conducted in seven provinces

Rome (CNN) Italian authorities launched a "vast anti-terrorism operation" Friday, going after suspects associated with al Qaeda who allegedly had discussed a range of targets, including the Vatican.

Wiretaps and other intelligence revealed that the group -- some of whom had direct contact with Osama bin Laden 's network -- planned to carry out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as in Italy, according to Caligari Chief Prosecutor Mauro Mura.

Evidence indicated the Vatican was among the targets considered, police said. Talk of this took place March 2010, around the time a possible suicide bomber from Afghanistan entered Italy before leaving the European nation, Mura said.

A prospective attack may have been foiled by a spring 2010 search of one of the alleged al Qaeda affiliates' homes, Italy's ANSA news agency reported , citing police in Caligari.

When asked about this report, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said "it seems that we are talking about a hypothesis of the year 2010 that didn't come to fruition.

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