Italian officials say the migrants were being taken Saturday to Italian ports after several different rescue operations, including helping some 200 people aboard motorized rubber dinghies a day earlier south of Sicily.
The smugglers' boats had set out in a spell of warm, calm weather.
Two weeks earlier, a fishing boat in which smugglers had crammed an estimated 800 people capsized in what is the largest known loss of life in a single boat accident involving migrants trying to reach Italian shores. There were only 28 survivors. The deaths prompted a humanitarian outcry and a European Union pledge to boost rescue efforts.