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2 Wounded in Rome Embassy Blasts

   VOA News 23 December 2010
   Italian firefighters stand in front of the Swiss Embassy in Rome where
   a parcel bomb exploded, 23 Dec 2010

Photo: AFP

   Italian firefighters stand in front of the Swiss Embassy in Rome where
   a parcel bomb exploded, 23 Dec 2010

   Packages  have  exploded  at  the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome,
   wounding two people.
   In  the  first  incident,  at  the  Swiss Embassy on Thursday, a staff
   member  who was opening the package sustained serious injuries to both
   his hands.  The second blast occurred hours later at Chile's Embassy,
   also wounding one person.
   Meanwhile,  the  Italian  news  agency ANSA reported that a suspicious
   package was found at the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome.
   Italian  Foreign  Minister  Franco  Frattini  called the attack on the
   Swiss  Embassy  a  "deplorable  act  of violence" and declared Italy's
   solidarity  with  the embassy staff.  It was not immediately clear to
   whom the package was addressed.
   The  staffer  at  the  Swiss  Embassy  was  taken  to  a  hospital  as
   firefighters   and   police  massed  inside  the  embassy  grounds  to
   investigate the blast.
   The explosions occurred amid growing concerns in Europe about possible
   holiday  season  attacks,  after a recent suicide bombing in Stockholm
   and arrests this week in Britain of 12 terrorism suspects.
   The  Rome  incidents  are  similar  to a wave of parcel bombs found in
   Greece in early November that targeted Western leaders and embassies.
   A Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility for sending more than a
   dozen  parcel bombs, several of which exploded.  One woman working at
   a  private  mail delivery company was slightly wounded when one of the
   packages exploded in her hands.
   The  embassy  explosions  in Rome followed a bomb scare Tuesday in the
   Italian capital's subway, after authorities found a suspicious package
   with  wires and powder under a subway seat. Authorities determined the
   device was a fake.  Â

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