ROME - A violent anarchist group protesting at the incarceration of comrades in Spain was said to be behind a series of parcel bombs delivered to airports, a Spanish airline office and the Italian national broadcaster RAI since Friday.
Two more bombs were discovered yesterday. One at Fiumicino post office,close to Rome's main airport, was defused by police, but another at the head office of RAI exploded, giving off clouds of black smoke but causing no damage or injuries.
A message found with the bomb at Fiumicino warned, "We advise tourists and businessmen intending to use the airplanes of Iberia - the Spanish flag-carrier - between 25 December 2002 and 1 January 2003 that more incendiary bombs will disturb the tranquility of their flights."
The message went on to warn Italian motorcycle champion Valentino Rossi to break his advertising contract with a Spanish firm, Repsol, and indicated that the main goal of the campaign was abolition of FIES (Ficheros Internos de Especial Seguimento), Spain's anti-terrorist detention law. The message was signed "C.C.C.C.C.", the name of a known Italian anarchist group, campaigning on behalf of Italians jailed in Spain.
Security has been tightened drastically at Italian airports, and Valentino Rossi has been given an armed guard.
The first bomb in the series was sent from Milan to the Barcelona office of El Pais, the Spanish newspaper. It was followed by identical shock-proof rubberised packages, each containing about 50 grams of explosive and a fuse, that were sent to an Iberian travel agency in Rome on Friday and Milan's Malpensa Airport on Saturday. Both were defused. In each case the explosive was concealed inside a book.
A forensic scientist reached by the La Repubblica newspaper in Rome said, "The investigation is still continuing, but the mode of delivery and the technique employed suggest that the author of all the bombs was the same."
Within Italy's Interior Ministry, a source who declined to be named said: "This seems to be part of a bombing campaign by an anarchist-insurrectionist group seeking to sow terror. There is no question that these devices were designed to cause serious damage to people and property."
