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ROME — Italian officials have stepped up security at possible targets of anti-Semitic attacks.

The move follows two recent bombings in Italy's capital that were linked to neo-Nazi extremists.

On Nov. 23, a rudimentary bomb damaged the entrance to Rome's Liberation Museum, dedicated to the World War II Resistance.

Three days later, police defused a similar homemade bomb at the entrance to a Rome movie theater that was showing an Israeli film about the 1961 Jerusalem trial of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann.

Anonymous callers saying they represented a group called the Anti-Zionist Movement claimed responsibility for both bombs.

No one was injured in either incident, but the two events rang alarm bells among political leaders and Jewish community officials alike. The incidents have focused attention on neo-Nazi skinheads and other right-wing extremists, including hooligans at soccer matches.

"This does not only concern us Jews, but all civil and democratic forces in the country," said Amos Luzzatto, president of the Italian Jewish community.

He urged authorities to halt play in soccer games where fans are seen displaying racist or anti-Semitic banners.

Politicians from all parts of the political spectrum condemned the attacks and warned of possible further incidents.

In the wake of the bombing at the museum, Interior Minister Rosa Russo Jervolino said the government does not regard it as an isolated incident, "but considers it to be part of a neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic strategy."

Officials beefed up security Sunday at soccer stadiums as the government vowed to clamp down on racist and anti-Semitic behavior in the stands.

Players in an important match in Rome ran onto the field in shirts bearing the slogan "No to Anti-Semitism, Violence and Racism."

Over the weekend, police interrogated dozens of youths known to belong to skinhead and other extremist groups, including militant soccer fan clubs.

Maurizio Boccacci, Rome's most notorious right-wing extremist leader, denied involvement in the bombings but said he supported the cause.

"I am a fascist, racist anti-Semite," he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "I am against immigration. But if I do something, I do it openly. I would have devastated that cinema, I would have occupied it. But bomb it, no. Bombs belong to a sad past."

Reports said the homemade bombs resembled explosive devices set off in the stands by militant soccer fans during matches.

"The racist tension in the stadiums, as it is tolerated, has created an incubator for the bombs — which some people still prefer to call 'firecrackers,'" said Claudio Fano, the former president of the Rome Jewish community. "The soccer world is an accomplice in all this."

Jewish leaders for years have been trying to get soccer authorities to crack down on racist and anti-Semitic slogans at the games. Hardline fans often use anti-Semitic slogans to direct abuse against rival teams.

In a match last year, for example, fans of Rome's Lazio team displayed a huge banner directed against fans of the archrival Roma team that read "Auschwitz Is Your Homeland; The Ovens Are Your Homes."

On Sunday, Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri told the newspaper La Repubblica that soccer clubs and the government were giving themselves "one or two months to take all measures necessary to isolate racist intolerance.

"But if swastikas and anti-Semitic banners continue to appear in Italian stadia," she said, "then the world of sport will decide to play behind closed doors."