Bombrief ontploft in Europees Parlement (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The President of the largest political party in the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, today received a letter bomb.

The envelope exploded in the hands of an employee who was not injured.

In a statement issued by the group, spokesman Robert Fitzhenry said that "the security services of the European Parliament were informed immediately and an investigation launched".

"In a second incident shortly afterwards, another Spanish deputy, José Ignacio Salafranca discovered a similar package. This package was not opened, it was sent to the Belgian police and no one was injured", said David Harley, spokesman for the European Parliament President Pat Cox.

"We have informed the Belgian authorities about these incidents. The two

packages were of a similar size, both were sent from Bologna in Italy and were

postmarked the 22nd December 2003", continued the President's spokesman.

Similar letters were sent in December to the Commission President Romano Prodi,

the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet and the Presidents of EuroJust and EuroPol.

"We will be carrying out an inquiry later today to assess what further security measures may be required. We are confident but not complacent that the situation can be returned to normal as soon as possible", said Mr Harley.

Security officials have told this website that there were "[letter] bombs everywhere" in the European Parliament.

However, a third suspected bomb appears to have been a false alarm.

An Italian anarchist group is being treated as the likely source of the bombing wave. A group calling itself the Informal Anarchic Federation first took credit for setting two time bombs that exploded outside Prodi's house on December 21, causing a small fire.