Greece Halts Air Cargo after Bombs Target European Leaders

November 3, 2010

ddressed-to-Berlusconi-106614438.html

VOA News 03 November 2010

Greece has stopped all airborne parcels headed out of the country after the

discovery of three letter bombs addressed to European leaders.

Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi, German Chancellor Merkel and

French President Sarkozy were all targeted.

Ms. Merkel called Wednesday for better international coordination on security

rules for air cargo.

The letter bombs sent from Greece appeared to be part of a group of

explosive-packed packages that also targeted eight embassies in Athens and EU

institutions.

Three of those bombs exploded or caught fire, slightly injuring one person. The

rest of the packages, including those addressed to the European leaders, were

intercepted.

Greek police believe left-wing extremists are behind the attempted bombings and

have arrested two suspects.

They say they have found no connection to the similar Yemen-based air-cargo bomb

plot linked to al-Qaida and targeting the United States.

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.

A package bomb sent from Greece to Mr. Berlusconi blew up at an airport in

Bologna. No injuries were reported.

German authorities found a parcel bomb in Ms. Merkel's mail room on Tuesday. The

chancellor was out of the country at the time.

Greek authorities are questioning two suspects arrested Monday carrying two

bombs, one of them addressed to Mr. Sarkozy. One of the detained is linked to

the Greek militant group, Conspiracy Cells of Fire.

The embassies in Athens of Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Chile

and the Netherlands were targeted. None of those explosives caused serious

damage.

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

Recommended Posts