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5 January 2004
BRUSSELS – An anonymous letter exploded in the European Parliament building in Brussels Monday but no-one was injured.
The letter exploded as it was opened by an assistant to the German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Poettering. A second letter bomb was defused.
Parliamentary speaker Jaume Duch said said the attacks were similar to four pre-Christmas letter bombs which had been sent from the Italian city of Bologna to EU institutions.
The explosive packets were about the size of a video cassette, said Duch. An X-ray of incoming post had failed to identify the flammable contents of the packages.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi and the President of the European Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet as well as EU institutions Europol and Eurojust in The Hague have been targets of letter bombs.
DPA
Subject: German news