Four people suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the Vatican in Rome have been arrested by Italian police.

Abderrahim Moutahrrick, a kick boxer born in Morocco, was detained along with his wife, Salma Bencharki, and two others, according to Maurizio Romanelli, the Milan prosecutor.

Arrest warrants have been issued for two more people believed to be in Syria.

Romanelli said that Moutahrrick had been ordered to go ahead with the attack by Ali Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State.

Al-Baghdadi ordered the attacks "with particular attention to the city of Rome". The intention was to disrupt the Pope's current Jubilee Year of Mercy, which lasts until 20 November.

Romanelli said: "This is a new profile, because it was not a generic indication, but an indication given to a specific person who was invited to act within the territory of the Italian state." The terrorists are thought to have been planning to travel from their home in Lecco, north of Milan to live in Islamic State territory in the Middle East with their children, aged two and four.

Another of the men arrested was Abderrahmane Khachia, 23, in the northern city of Varese.

There have been fears for months that a terror attack on the Vatican was being planned. 

Earlier this month, Islamic State issued a new propaganda video threatening London, Rome and Berlin with attacks.