Italy's interior ministry has placed Lucia Borsellino, the daughter of a Sicilian judge killed by the mafia in 1992, under protection, media reports said Monday.

The 46-year-old recently resigned a senior post in the health system in Sicily after being praised by investigators for her help in a probe into suspected mafia infiltration.

Fears she could now be targeted by the mafia have led to her being accorded a bullet-proof car and bodyguards, despite her reluctance to have them.

The bomb which killed her anti-mafia father Paolo Borsellino also killed five of his six bodyguards.