A gunman shot and wounded the head of an Italian nuclear energy company on Monday, May 7 in an incident reminiscent of militant attacks in the 1970s, with police saying anarchists could be responsible, AFP reported.

Roberto Adinolfi, a 53-year-old nuclear engineer, was followed by the gunman and shot in the ankle as he left his home in Genoa in northwest Italy. The gunman then escaped on a motorbike with a second man waiting nearby.

Adinolfi, the head of Ansaldo Nucleare, part of aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica, was rushed to hospital but his life is not in danger.

Security sources said the attack was similar to one of the first shootings by the far-left Red Brigades militant group, also against Ansaldo.

The source said there was "major concern" that the shooting could be a signal for sleeper cells to carry out more attacks or spark copycat shootings.

Investigators were quoted by Italian media as saying they were also looking into possible links with the anarchist movement which is particularly strong in Genoa after recent calls by some anarchists for moves towards "armed action."

Kneecapping was widely used by both far-right and far-left militants during Italy's "Years of Lead" when leading industrialists, politicians and trade unionists perceived as making compromises became targets.

Former anti-corruption prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, the leader of the Italy of Values party, said he considered "any terrorist or violent act to be criminal and an enemy of democracy and of workers."

Fabrizio Cicchitto, a senior lawmaker from Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom party, said the shooting was "a very grave signal".