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Italy Opens Probe Into Package Bomb Addressed to Berlusconi

   VOA News 03 November 2010
   A  police  explosive  expert,  left,  prepares a controlled blast of a
   suspicious  package  at  a  private delivery company in Athens, 02 Nov
   2010

Photo: AP

   A  police  explosive  expert,  left,  prepares a controlled blast of a
   suspicious  package  at  a  private delivery company in Athens, 02 Nov
   2010

   Italy has opened a probe into a package bomb sent from Greece to Prime
   Minister  Silvio Berlusconi, as Greek authorities press their hunt for
   those  behind  a wave of parcel bombs targeting embassies and European
   leaders.
   The  package  sent  to Mr. Belusconi burst into flames Wednesday at an
   airport in Bologna, and no injuries were reported.
   The wave of bombs, which Greek authorities said may be linked to Greek
   leftists,  has  sparked  a Greek ban on all overseas shipments of mail
   and  packages.  Police say no mail will fly out of Greece for the next
   two  days, as authorities screen thousands of parcels that were set to
   leave the country.
   Parcel  bombs exploded outside the Swiss and Russian embassies Tuesday
   in Athens, but caused little damage and no injuries.
   Greek  police carried out controlled explosions of suspicious packages
   sent  to  the  Bulgarian, Chilean and German embassies. They detonated
   two  additional  parcel  bombs at Athens' international airport. Those
   were addressed to the Europol police agency in the Netherlands and the
   European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
   Meanwhile,  German officials said a dangerous package sent from Greece
   reached the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
   Greek  authorities  said  a  bomb discovered Monday in Athens was in a
   letter addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
   Greek  police  believe  anarchists  are  responsible for the attempted
   bombings  and have arrested two suspects. They said they have found no
   connection  to  the  Yemen-based mail bomb plot linked to al-Qaida and
   targeting the United States.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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