By Peter Kammerer
Fearful of attack in the wake of the London bombings, European governments have acted swiftly to strengthen counter-terrorism measures, but two nations - Italy and Denmark - are more worried than most.
Like Britain, both have troops in the US-led coalition in Iraq and, as a result, have received frequent threats from extremist groups.
Their state of alert was pushed to the highest level the day after last Thursday's bombings, when an Islamist website posted a claim of responsibility by the previously unknown Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe, which named the two countries as being next on the terrorists' hit list.
Denmark and Italy have taken it as a warning.
Italy on Wednesday detained 174 people in nationwide anti-terrorism raids, a day after Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu called for measures including tougher border controls and the doubling of time police could detain a suspect to 24 hours.
Denmark's government has considerably beefed up security, particularly on public transport.
European Union justice and interior ministers at a special meeting in Brussels also vowed to speed up anti-terrorism measures, such as the compulsory storage of phone and internet-usage records.
A counter-terror specialist with the Washington office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Jonathan Stevenson, said the nations' continuing military involvement was an invitation to terrorists.
"Another European target makes perfect sense," Mr Stevenson said. "Italy and Denmark have been relatively strong supporters of the intervention in Iraq."
Mr Stevenson believed the pattern of terrorist attacks worldwide since the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 clearly pointed to more attacks in western Europe.
"The only thing surprising to me was that they didn't hit Britain first, Mr Stevenson said. "The reason for this was because the network is flat and jihad has to rely on local talent."
A security expert with the United Nations Inter-Regional Crime and Justice Research Institute in Rome, Francesco Cappe, said Europeans realised there was a need to strengthen co-operation.
