- Title: ITALY: Two injured in embassy explosions in Rome
- Date: 24th December 2010
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (DECEMBER 23, 2010) (REUTERS) POLICE OUTSIDE SWISS EMBASSY IN ROME POLICE OFFICER IN PROTECTIVE SUIT ITALIAN POST OFFICE VEHICLE IN THE STREET ROME MAYOR GIANNI ALEMANNO ARRIVING AND SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ROME MAYOR, GIANNI ALEMANNO SAYING "The investigators are following some international leads but that's not for m
- Embargoed: 8th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy, Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVADA8F9Q3LUFM2BX7JTJ5B4F7KE
- Story Text: Italian police said on Thursday (December 23) they were checking all embassies in Rome after two people were injured in separate explosions at the Swiss and Chilean missions in what Rome's mayor called a "wave of terrorism".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the incidents bore similarities to an episode in Greece last month in which far-left militants were suspected of sending parcel bombs to foreign governments and embassies in Athens.
"The investigators are following some international leads but that's not for me to discuss," Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno told reporters.
"I express all my solidarity to the Swiss Republic and all the citizens that live and work here in Rome. We have mobilised our forces, the security forces and hospitals. The wounded person is being treated in the hospital and is being operated and we hope that he didn't suffer a disablement. From our part we remain watchful and have all the solidarity from the Italian people, the Roman people towards Switzerland," added the Alemanno.
Police said the injured Swiss embassy employee had been taken to hospital in central Rome suffering serious wounds to his hands after he opened a package in the mailroom.
Bomb disposal experts searched the Swiss embassy offices, located in a prosperous part of Rome which houses many foreign embassies, but staff remained in the building following the incident, which occurred at around midday (1100 GMT).
The explosion at the Chilean embassy occurred in the early afternoon, hours after the earlier incident.
The victim there was a mailroom employee who was injured in the hands and face when the packet exploded.
Fire engines were stationed outside the Chilean embassy and fire fighters entered the building.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini condemned the incident at the Swiss embassy.
"We express our full solidarity with the Swiss ambassador and with all the personnel of this diplomatic representation, which has been the target of a deplorable act of violence that deserves our strongest condemnation," he said in a statement.
The Italian news agency ANSA said a suspect package had been found at the Ukrainian mission but the embassy later said no dangerous items had been found after a search of the package.
The explosions follow the discovery of a rudimentary device in an empty underground train in Rome on Tuesday. However, police said that it lacked a detonator and tests showed it contained no explosive.
Thursday's explosions occurred at a time of heightened security fears in Europe following a botched attack by a suspected suicide bomber in Sweden this month.
The suspected bomber was killed in Stockholm on Dec. 11.
Police believe he was planning to attack a train station or department store at the height of the Christmas shopping season. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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