“Vatican prepared for Barcelona-style terror attack – Swiss Guard,” Times of Malta, August 25, 2017:
It is perhaps “only a matter of time” before Rome is hit by a Barcelona-style attack but security forces are ready in case the Vatican is targeted, the head the Swiss Guard has said….
Barriers and police and army vehicles have been placed around St. Peter’s Basilica to make it harder for a vehicle to gather speed in an attack such as the one last week in Barcelona, which killed 13 people.
Despite threats from Islamic State, Rome and other Italian cities have so far been spared the kind of vehicle attacks that have also hit Nice, London, and Berlin.
“It could perhaps be just a matter of time before there is such an attack in Rome, but we are prepared,” Christoph Graf, the commandant of the Swiss Guard, was quoted as telling the Swiss Catholic website Cath.ch….