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The brutal murder of two elderly people allegedly perpetrated by migrant in southern Italy sparked anger against the government for what was perceived as a mismanagement of the migration crisis, local media reported on Monday.
The first phases of the probe into the murder have led to the arrest of a young migrant, and a daughter of the victims accused the state of "being co-responsible" for their deaths for a lack of control on immigration.
Vincenzo Solano, 68, and his wife Mercedes Ibanez, 70, were found dead in their home in a small village near Catania, Sicily, on Sunday morning. The man had his throat slit, while the woman had apparently been thrown from the apartment's balcony.
Italian police arrested 18-year-old Ivorian Mamadou Karama under suspicion of murder within hours.
The man was currently living in the nearby hosting center for asylum seekers Cara Mineo, after landing in Sicily in June.
He was found with a mobile phone belonging to the victims in his bag, together with at least a laptop and a camcorder.
He had blood traces on his clothes, which were now being analysed and compared with the blood of the two victims, according to the police.
"It is also the fault of the state, if my parents were killed," daughter of the victims Rosita Solano told local media.
"The government lets them (the migrants) in and allows them to do whatever they like, even robbing and killing," she added.
"I expect (Prime Minister) Renzi to come here and explain. I do not want him to say sorry or give excuses, because my parents are dead by now. But he must tell us why".
The young migrant denied being the killer, and said he found the victims' phone in a street of the village.
Up to Monday, investigators said they believed the double murder was the result of an attempted robbery, and they were searching for possible accomplices of the man.
The case fuelled anti-immigrant feelings in the province of Catania, which was already strained under the endless influx of refugees in the Cara Mineo reception center, one of the Europe's largest.
The facility should accommodate up to 3,000 asylum seekers, while they wait for their applications to be processed. Some 3,219 people were living there by March 2015, according to latest data by the center's administration.
Sicily itself has been hosting the highest number of refugees and migrants in Italy, being the first region in the South where people crossing the Mediterranean are brought in after being rescued.
The brutality of the double murder also shocked the local community and national media outlets, since it was the first time a migrant hosted in the Cara Mineo was being suspected of such a serious crime.
"It was a heinous murder, and the crime scene was unbelievable, " Caltagirone chief prosecutor Giuseppe Verzera told local media.
Political tension rose on Monday, with opposition forces voicing sharp criticism of PM Matteo Renzi's center-left cabinet for the way it managed the immigration emergency.
"I would not say: this is also fault of the state... Rather it is solely fault of the government," anti-immigration right-wing Northern League's leader Matteo Salvini wrote on his Facebook account.
Silvia Meloni, leader of conservative Fratelli d' Italia party, asked PM Renzi to answer to the angry appeal of the victims' daughter.
"Renzi and (Interior Minister) Alfano must explain why Europe's largest asylum seeker facility was not under the necessary surveillance, and why refugees and migrants are not being monitored," she said on social media.
Both parties opposed the government's immigration policy, and believed rescuing migrants at sea would only boost the smuggling of people, which is thought to have a key hub in Libya.
Italy has long been struggling with a huge inflow of migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East: it registered over 170,000 people in 2014, and more than 111, 300 so far this year.
Some 2,373 migrants were also believed to have died at sea up to August 25, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Enditem
