La Stampa said the study was prepared "in recent weeks" and envisaged the possibility that a nuclear device was in the country.

Intelligence sources quoted by the ANSA news agency said the report in La Stampa was not confirmed by any document produced by state security services.

The newspaper quoted the purported study as saying: "The political importance of Italy, given its bilateral relationship with the United States and its long tradition of economic and political links with the moderate Arab countries, makes it possible that a nuclear attack could be launched on our territory."

It said an attack in a major city would destroy buildings in a one-kilometer (600-yard) radius, sow havoc, damage and death over several kilometers and entail the evacuation of half a million people.

It also envisaged the possibility of an attack by sarin nerve gas, which it said would take six months to prepare, last 10 minutes and kill 95 percent of the people in the target area.

Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said in a radio interview Monday that the attack plotters were losing their campaign, arguing tha Al-Qaeda no longer has bases in Afghanistan and that Arab governments are taking steps to stop the spread of Islamic extremism.

Pisanu also said that most Muslims in Europe were distancing themselves from the extremists.

"That's what has happened in England, and is happening more each day in our country. That means that terrorism is starting to lose its hold," he said.

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