October 10, 2016 - 8:44 AM
ROME - Italy says it has expelled a Tunisian man who pledged support to the Islamic State group on his Facebook page and was allegedly planning to go to the Syrian-Iraqi region to fight.
Monday's expulsion marked the 122nd person Italy has kicked out since January 2015 on security grounds related to Islamic extremism.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the investigation was conducted alongside French authorities because the Tunisian, who came to Italy in 2003, was in touch with an underage Frenchwoman of Italian origin.
Alfano said that French authorities had identified him from his activity on a jihadi chat board, adding that he "clearly intended to reach the Syrian-Iraqi theatre."
A plane carrying the 32-year-old left Palermo, Sicily, on Monday, bringing to 56 the number of people kicked out this year.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016