Italy: 'Satanist murders' prompt urgent response from police

Italian police want to set up a special unit to tackle the growth of new religious sects, particularly a violent new breed of home-grown Satanists, reports the BBC.

The new police squad would include psychologists, plus a priest who is an expert on the occult. It would co-ordinate nationwide investigations into potentially dangerous religious movements.

The move follows a spate of high profile, gruesome murders blamed on a new generation of Satanists. They are said to combine a lethal blend of black magic, hard drugs, sex and heavy metal.

In the most recent case a gang known as the "Beasts of Satan" bludgeoned, then buried alive, two of their own members - a young woman and her boyfriend - in woods outside Milan.