An Italian communist militant has for the first time admitted responsibility for four murders he carried out in the 1970s. Cesare Battisti went on the run for nearly 40 years after the killings, until he was arrested in Bolivia in January and extradited back to Italy.

He is now serving a life sentence in a high-security prison in Sardinia.

The 64-year-year old had always denied responsibility for the murders and other crimes, carried out as part of a plot to foment a Left-wing revolution in Italy.

Alberto Nobili, a prosecutor from Milan, said Battisti confessed to the murders during questioning in jail at the weekend.

“When I killed, for me it was just a war,” he reportedly said. “I realise the harm I have done and I apologise to the families [of the victims].”

Mr Nobili said it had "felt like I was watching the liberation of someone who was initially embarrassed, troubled".

The confessions came "little by little... not as a flood", said the prosecutor.