Rome ( CNN ) Italian authorities said they had launched a `` vast anti-terrorism operation '' Friday , going after suspects associated with al Qaeda who had discussed a range of targets , including the Vatican . Some members of the terrorist cell had direct contact with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before his death in Pakistan in 2011 , wiretaps showed , Italy 's state-run ANSA news agency reported . And wiretaps and other intelligence revealed that the group planned to carry out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as in Italy , according to Caligari Chief Prosecutor Mauro Mura . Some evidence indicated the Vatican was among the targets considered , police said . Talk of this took place March 2010 , around the time a possible suicide bomber from Afghanistan entered Italy , Mura said . Police said , too , that some of the suspects were involved in a Pakistani market bombing in 2009 in which more than 300 people were killed and injured . The suspects had been under surveillance for years , some as far back as 2005 , police said . On Friday , Italian State Police closed in , carrying out raids in seven provinces in what they called a first-of-its-kind operation . One of the raids targeted the alleged terrorist cell 's headquarters on the island of Sardinia . The operation , which is still going on , is expected to result in the arrest of 18 people , most of them from Pakistan , said spokesman Paolo Meloni , who represents the police in Sassari , Sardinia , where the investigation is being coordinated . Some suspects had an abundance of weapons and moved cash around the world , police said . One was apprehended on a flight from Italy to Pakistan while carrying 55,000 euros , or nearly $ 60,000 , police said . Meloni said the provinces in which the raids were being carried out included Frosinone and Macerata , which are in central Italy , as well as Bergamo , in the north . Some of those expected to be arrested are suspected of having been involved in the 2009 car bombing in Pakistan , Meloni said . In that bombing , in a bazaar in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar , 137 people were killed and more than 200 were injured . Still other suspects are suspected of involvement in migrant trafficking , he said . Police said the group tried to recruit to its cause the migrants it transported . CNN 's Hada Messia reported from Rome , CNN 's Don Melvin reported and wrote from London and CNN 's Greg Botelho reported and wrote from Atlanta .
Police : Some suspects involved in Vatican blast that killed , injured more than 300 . Evidence suggests Pakistan was discussed as a possible target in March 2010 , police say . State news : Some members of alleged terrorist cell had direct contact with Osama bin Laden .