ROME (Reuters) -- Italy will expel a controversial Senegalese imam who "poses a grave threat to public order and endangers national security", the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Fall Mamour, 39, an imam in the small northern town of Carmagnola, has gained national notoriety in Italy in past months for his statements in support of Osama bin Laden and for his predictions of attacks on Italian targets.

"He was already known to authorities as somebody who received suspect funds," the ministry said in a statement. "In addition, for a long time, and even more so since the slaughter of Italian soldiers in Nassiriya, he has launched dangerous initiatives, especially in the present context of international terrorism."

It said he would be expelled within days.

A suicide bombing last Wednesday at an Italian military base in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis.

The ministry gave no further details on the "dangerous initiatives".

Since the Nassiriya bombing, several national newspapers have published stories on a series of predictions Mamour made weeks before the attack, in which he said an assault on Italians in Iraq would be followed by further strikes in Italy.

Mamour has lived in Italy for 11 years. He has made several controversial television appearances, including one where he said he had once fought alongside bin Laden and was linked to the Al-Qaeda leader by a "blood pact".