A letter bomb addressed to the Swiss diplomatic mission detonated while a 53-year-old embassy employee was opening the package, seriously injuring his arms, but not endangering his life, according to Italian media reports. A worker at the Chilean Embassy is also reported to have been wounded, though not as severely.
Before the statement by the group appeared, Italian authorities had suspected that the mail bombs were an “attack with terrorist aims,” as they saw similarities to incidents that took place in Greece last month.
“It is a serious matter in itself. But we do not want to cause alarm. It seems premature to say what the cause is,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters, according to Corriere Della Sera newspaper.
A small box was found late Thursday next to one of the injured employees, ANSA news agency reported.
“We have decided to make our voice heard with words and deeds. Let us destroy the system of domination. Long live the FAI,” a statement from the group said.
Earlier in October this year, the Swiss Embassy received an explosive device left outside the diplomatic mission with a note reading that the Swiss government should release three anarchists that were in the country.
In 2003, a series of mail bomb attacks targeting then-European Commission chief Romano Prodi took place in Italy, and it was thought that anarchists were behind the attacks.
The Chilean Embassy said that it could not understand why the mail bombs were addressed as they were. “The package was addressed to the cultural office and was opened by the civil servant who injured himself as he opened it,” the Chilean ambassador told reporters, according to an Agency France Press report.
Similar mail bombs were sent to foreign embassies in Greece last month, as well as to some European leaders, including the Italian prime minister and German chancellor. The Swiss diplomatic mission in Greece was also among those targeted last month.
