BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon said it had arrested 10 members of an Al-Qaeda-linked group planning to blow up the Italian embassy in Beirut using a car packed with 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of explosives.
Interior Minister Elias Murr said Lebanese Ismail Mohammed al-Khatib, "the head of a network linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist movement," had been arrested in the predominantly Sunni Muslim area of western Bekaa.
"It is the first time Lebanon has arrested an Al-Qaeda network," he added.
In a statement, his ministry said: "Preliminary investigations with the head of the group has proven that he was planning such an attempt and was due to use a car loaded with 300 kilograms of TNT."
Italy's Defense Minister Antonio Martino said in Rome the attack had been foiled by Italian, Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services, according to the ANSA news agency, which said 10 people had been arrested but did not specify when.
ANSA said the attack was to be carried out by members of a Salafist group allegedly headed up by a man named Abi Omar. Among the 10 arrested was the alleged military leader of the group by the name of Miqati, it said.
The attackers were also planning to strike the US embassy in Beirut, the report said.
Murr said the network, which did not have a specific name, also aimed to "recruit young fundamentalists to carry out operations against the coalition forces in Iraq".
The arrests followed information provided by the Italian government on Saturday to Lebanon's security services, he said.
The interior ministry said the alleged mastermind was based in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, which remains off limits to the Lebanese army.
The unidentified leader was linked to "an extremist Sunni" group whose followers were also hiding in the camp, it said, adding that they were also allegedly planning attacks on the Ukranian consulate in Beirut and on police stations.