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Suspect package disarmed at Greek embassy in Rome

28 December 2010 03:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Bomb disposal experts disarmed on Monday a device sent to the Greek embassy in Rome, days after parcel bomb attacks claimed by an Italian anarchist group wounded two people at the Swiss and Chilean missions, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Police said the package found at the Greek embassy resembled the bombs which exploded in Rome last week, costing an employee of the Chilean embassy two fingers and also injuring a member of the Swiss embassy staff.
"The package was similar to the ones at the other embassies," Maurizio Mezzavilla, an official of the carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police, told reporters outside the embassy, adding that anarchist involvement "could not be ruled out."
However, he said investigations were still being conducted and there was no firm evidence of who was responsible.
"A suspect package arrived; we immediately informed the carabinieri who arrived immediately and neutralized the bomb," Michael Campanis, the Greek ambassador to Italy told reporters.
He said the package, addressed by hand, had arrived in the embassy on December 24.
"We had not received any threats previously. The packet arrived on Friday afternoon when the embassy was already closed. The staff member found it this morning but security measures had already been stepped up," he said, adding that it appeared likely that the anarchists were responsible.
"Since it was the same kind of package as the others, that is our hypothesis," he said.
Last week, an Italian anarchist group called the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) claimed responsibility in a note for the parcel bombs at the Swiss and Chilean embassies.
Authorities have been on high alert since the attacks and there were false alarms at the Venezuelan, Danish, Monaco and Kuwaiti embassies as suspect packages turned out to be harmless.
There were other false alarms at the Irish and Ukrainian embassies last week.
The incidents have re-awakened concern over a potential rise in violence by domestic European militant groups as social tensions have grown following the financial crisis and government austerity packages imposed to pay for it.
The attacks bore similarities to an episode in Greece last month in which far-left militants sent parcel bombs to foreign governments and embassies in Athens.
Moreover, last week’s note was signed by the "Lambros Fountas revolutionary cell" of the FAI, which Italian media said was a reference to a Greek anarchist killed in a clash with Greek police in Athens in March.
Investigators have noted the past preference of anarchist splinter groups for attacks over the Christmas period and said last week that more were likely. Italian embassies abroad have been put on alert.