Task force probes letter bombs

6 January 2004

ROME – A European team of security experts have been assembled to investigate a series of letter bomb attacks on European Union officials and to suggest preventive measures, Italian media reported Tuesday.

Italy is to chair the task force initially, after the decision in Rome.

On Monday, a letter mailed anonymously to German Christian Democrat European parliament member Hans-Gert Poetterings exploded in Brussels. A second device to Spanish conservative MEP Jose Ignacio Salafranca was successful defused by police.

As with other letter bombs sent to EU institutions recently, both parcels were mailed from the Italian city of Bologna.

DPA
Subject: German news