ROME, Dec 24, (AFP) -Italian investigators on Friday blamed anarchists for parcel bomb blasts that injured two staffers at the Chilean and Swiss embassies in Rome, as police stepped up security sweeps in the city on Christmas Eve.
A claim of responsibility for Thursday's explosions by an Italian anarchist group calling itself the Informal Federation of Anarchy was “reliable” and was backed by “objective checks,” the ANSA news agency quoted investigators as saying.Police were also looking into possible ties with Greek anarchists after officials said the attacks bore similarities to a plot in Greece last month.
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| Italian police officers and firefighters arrive at the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome after a bomb alarm on December 23. AFP |
Security was meanwhile stepped up at embassies, ministries and post offices and there have been a series of false alarms at other embassies around Rome. “Checks around sensitive targets have been reinforced. Foreign embassy and consulate workers should be on alert and call us if they see suspect packages,” a spokesman for the Carabinieri paramilitary police told AFP.
Rome police chief Federico Tagliente said on SkyTG24 that the police was ready to intervene “rapidly” if any more bomb packages were found, adding: “We are also checking outbound parcels from all the post offices.”The Chilean injured as he opened a package delivered to the embassy lost two fingers, the hospital where both men were being treated said in a note.
His eyes were also damaged by the blast and he had cuts and burns on his chest caused by “extraneous objects,” the doctors' note said.
The Swiss embassy worker was wounded to his left hand by a similar blast and “his wrist received multiple fractures,” the note said.
Both bombs were contained inside VHS video packages filled with explosive and metal fragments connected to a nine-volt battery and a light bulb filament, Italian newspapers reported, quoting investigators.
An insulating strip kept the bombs from going off until they were opened.
An anarchist group known as FAI under its Italian acronym claimed responsibility in a scrap of a note found at the scene of the Chilean embassy blast amid fragments of the package that exploded.
The FAI has claimed around 30 smaller attacks in Italy in recent years, starting with bombs set off in a rubbish bin outside the home in Bologna of then European Commission chief Romano Prodi in 2003.
The targets have been mainly the police and prison authorities and this is believed to be the first attack claimed by FAI to have injured someone.
“We have decided to make our voice heard with words and deeds. Let us destroy the system of domination... Long live anarchy,” the FAI statement said.
The statement was signed by the FAI's “Lambros Fountas Cell” -- a reference to a Greek far-left activist killed in a firefight with police in March 2010.
A Greek police spokesman, Thanassis Kokkalakis, told AFP there was no sign of involvement by Greek extremists but said the reference to the slain Greek militant showed a “measure of solidarity” between groups.
“The targets were not chosen at random,” Alfredo Mantovano, a junior interior minister, was quoted as saying by Il Giornale daily.
Mantovano said Switzerland was chosen because of the arrest of some Italian anarchists there and Chile because an anarchist died there in a bomb blast last year -- a death blamed by anarchist groups on Chilean authorities.
Violent anarchist groups in Italy have “a few hundred members” under a variety of banners, Mantovano said, adding that “their activities are kept under careful scrutiny by intelligence services and Digos.”Digos is a special operations police force charged with probing sensitive cases relating to terrorism, organized crime and serious offences such as kidnapping and extortion.
Italian investigators have drawn parallels between Thursday's bombs and a suspected anarchist far-left plot in Greece last month in which bombs were sent to foreign embassies in Athens and European government leaders.
Over a dozen packages containing explosives were sent in that plot, prompting Greece to suspend international mail for two days. At least four of the packages ignited or exploded, slightly injuring one person.
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