A terror cell that plotted to bomb the Vatican and included Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards among its members has been smashed by Italian counter-terror police, prosecutors have said.

Following a six-year investigation that began with a probe into illegal immigration, police launched raids across Italy and Sardinia on Friday, targeting 18 people suspected of links with al-Qaida, according to The Guardian on Friday.

An as yet unspecified number were arrested, including a spiritual leader of the small Muslim community of Sardinia, but others are believed to have fled the country.

Among those arrested or being sought were men suspected of involvement in the October 2009 bombing of the Meena Bazaar in Peshawar, which left more than 100 dead and over 200 people injured.

They are also believed to have planned to topple the Pakistani government, police said.

The extremists were allegedly involved in smuggling Pakistani and Afghan nationals into Europe through Italy, according to police.

The Italian interior minister, Angelino Alfano, described the swoop as “an extraordinary operation” that demonstrated the efficiency of the security services.

“With one sole investigation that started in 2009 we have succeeded in not only dismantling a network of people traffickers but also detaining several individuals accused of conspiring with terrorist aims and others of involvement in attacks,” Alfano said.

Italian prosecutor Mauro Mura told a press conference in Cagliari, Sardinia, that wiretaps suggested the terror suspects were planning an attack at the Vatican in 2010 and a suicide bomber had arrived in Rome.