Italian police said they have arrested a young man suspected of opening fire on foreigners from a vehicle in central Italy on Saturday, wounding several people.

After the attack in the town of Macerata, the suspect got out of his car and made a fascist salute while wearing a tricolour scarf, according to Italian media.

He was allegedly found to be carrying a gun when he was arrested.

Six people including “people of colour” have allegedly been injured, four of them seriously, media reported.

Police said in a tweet that “the wounded persons are of foreign nationality”.

The attack comes a day after a Nigerian asylum-seeker was arrested in Macerata over the gruesome killing of an 18-year-old Italian woman whose dismembered body was discovered in suitcases earlier this week.

However, no official link has been made between the two incidents.

AFP