(ANSA) - Rome, April 28 - Italian police on Thursday executed arrest warrants on six people, including a couple of suspected Islamist extremists who allegedly wanted to take their children aged two and four with them to join the jihad in conflict-hit areas of Syria-Iraq, ANSA sources said. The couple were residents of the northern province of Lecco. Also arrested was a 23-year-old Moroccan national, a resident of the province of Varese and the brother of a foreign fighter expelled from Italy in January 2015, who was allegedly set to go with the couple. Arrest warrants were also issued for another couple who were residents of Lecco province and went to the Syria-Iraq region in February 2015 and a relative of theirs, who had put the latter in contact with the aspiring jihadists. Thursday's operation was carried out with joint dawn raids conducted by various Carabinieri and police units.

Premier Matteo Renzi used Twitter to thank the authorities involved in Thursday's operation to stop a group of aspiring jihadists.

"Very important anti-extremist operation in north this morning," Renzi said via his @matteorenzi account. "Compliments to the ministry, intelligence (services), investigators and police forces #alltogether (#tuttiinsieme)".

Wiretaps recorded in relation to the investigation that led to Thursday's anti-terrorism operation showed that Mohamed Koraichi, a Moroccan who went missing in the town of Bulciago, near Lecco, talked to one of the arrested people about attacks to be staged in Italy.

Investigators said that the wiretaps showed suspects paid "special attention to the city of Rome" when talking about possible attacks.

They say the suspects focused on Rome because it is the main venue for the Catholic Church's Jubilee and therefore they saw it as a place where pilgrims gain strength to fight Muslims.

