|
Letter bombs criminal conspiracy against democracy Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/01/06/305211.htmlhttp://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/01/06/305211.html
Letter bombs throw fright into EU brass
Two more blew up, although no one was hurt, and officials are tightening security.
AP 2004-01-06 05:55:55
BRUSSELS -- The explosion of two more letter bombs yesterday left European Union officials seeking immediate security improvements and the head of the EU legislature warned legislators to be on the alert, even in their homes. Since two small bombs were set off outside the home of European Commission President Romano Prodi on Dec. 21, seven letter bombs have targeted senior EU officials, spreading confusion and outrage even though the mailed incendiary devices have produced no injuries.
One burst into flames at Prodi's Italian home on Dec 27, and two others produced small fire-flashes when opened by staff of EU legislators yesterday in Brussels and Manchester, England. They scorched furniture while leaving officials frightened but unharmed.
A third letter bomb addressed to a Spanish conservative legislator was intercepted and neutralized yesterday.
"This has to be taken very, very seriously because we don't know whether there is a terrorist background to this or some kind of warning, in whatever form -- or whether it is just a bad joke," said Hans-Gert Poettering, the head of the conservative faction in the European Parliament who was one of those targeted in yesterday's attack.
And despite a greater anti-terrorism awareness following the Sept. 11 attacks and the immediate concerns following the attack on Prodi, security lapses still allowed EU personnel to handle the letter bombs yesterday.
"That such a device has been able to be delivered to the office of a senior politician is a matter of great concern," said Nelly Maes, a Belgian member of the EU assembly.
In nearby Antwerp, police were looking into two other suspicious packages found, although it was unclear whether there was a link with the EU letter bombs.
Beyond the three letter bombs against the EU legislators found yesterday, there were no other suspicious packages under review at EU headquarters late yesterday, officials said.
European Parliament President Pat Cox said the legislature would intensify security and scanning measures at its vast offices in the heart of Brussels and told everybody to be on the lookout.
"We are asking members of the European Parliament, together with their families and staff, to be alert in their homes, their offices in the European Parliament and in their constituencies," he said.
He said the spree of letter bombs "amount to a criminal conspiracy against democracy."
The trail of evidence so far leads to a shadowy anarchist group in Italy that sent the letters in late December and Italian investigators were huddling with their EU counterparts in Rome yesterday, searching how to catch the criminals.
Police immediately went to Poettering's EU office in his German constituency of Lower Saxony to check whether any explosives had arrived there.
Belgian police took thousands of postal parcels sent from Italy to EU offices to give them an additional check.
A bomb in the Manchester office of British Socialist legislator Gary Titley yesterday caused minor damage when a staff member opened a parcel which had arrived during the Christmas holidays. It immediately caught fire.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
|
|
