SISMI director arrested, warrants issued for 4 Americans (ANSA) - Rome, July 5 - Two members of the Italian military intelligence service SISMI were arrested on Wednesday in connection with a probe into the alleged CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 .
Arrest warrants were also issued for four American nationals - three CIA members and an official at the US air base at Aviano in northern Italy .
One of the Italians arrested was named as Marco Mancini, a SISMI director who has been on sick leave for more than a year .
Mancini, who was arrested at his home near Ravenna in northeast Italy, is accused of helping the CIA to abduct the cleric, a terrorist suspect .
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was the imam of Milan's main mosque. He disappeared mysteriously from the northern city on February 17, 2003 .
Investigating prosecutors in Milan say Nasr was snatched off the streets by a team of CIA operatives who flew him to two US military bases and then on to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured by Egyptian security agents .
The 43-year-old cleric was briefly released in 2004 when he told his family he had been tortured but has since been taken back to an Egyptian jail .
At the time of his abduction, Omar, an Egyptian refugee, was being probed by Milan investigators for suspected links to international terrorism .
Last November, the Milan prosecutors requested the extradition from the US of 22 CIA agents accused of abducting Nasr .
It was the first time that criminal charges were filed abroad against US operatives for their role in an anti-terrorism mission .
Up until Wednesday's arrests, no Italian officials had been involved in the case .
The previous, Silvio Berlusconi-led government repeatedly denied authorising or having any role in the alleged CIA operation .
The extradition requests for the CIA agents were unsuccessful, with then justice minister Roberto Castelli refusing to pass them on to the US Justice Department .
The case comes amid an international furore over allegations that the CIA has been carrying out covert operations in Europe with the possible knowledge or consent of local governments .
The CIA has been accused of 'extraordinary rendition', the practice of transporting suspects to other countries for interrogation, and using European airports for refuelling stops during these secret transfers .
A Council of Europe investigator reported last month that the Nasr abduction was one in a "global spider's web" of such flights .
The investigator, Dick Marty, also said that it was "unlikely that the Italian authorities were not aware of this large-scale CIA operation" .
The CIA is accused of running secret prisons in Eastern Europe, where aggressive interrogation techniques outlawed in the US can be used, and sending prisoners to countries like Egypt and Syria where torture is commonplace .
The US government has admitted secret rendition practices but denies using torture or handing suspects over to countries that do so .
Marco Mancini, a director of a division of the Italian SISMI military intelligence agency has been arrested in Milan over his role in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorist suspect by agents of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in what is believed to be an instance of Extraordinary Rendition.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric living in Italy who was abducted,  allegedly by covert agents of the CIA on February 17, 2003 from Milan and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. 

Italian investigators suspected that Nasr had links with Al Qaeda and say that they were investigating him when he was abducted. 

In June 2005, Italian judge Guido Salvini issued a warrant for the arrest of 22 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA over the kidnapping.