ROME (AP) — Italian carabinieri police say they have identified members of the Islamic State group believed to have been behind the 2013 kidnapping of an Italian aid worker in Syria.
Carabinieri police said they were carrying out arrest warrants on Wednesday against an unidentified number of suspected jihadis who were "seriously implicated" in the crimes of terrorist association and kidnapping with the aim of terrorism.
In a statement, police said the investigation had identified the group responsible for the kidnapping of Federico Motka. Motka was seized by Islamic State militants in northern Syria in March 2013 along with his British colleague, David Haines.
Haines was beheaded. Motka was released in September 2014.
Police gave no further details.
