“Eco-terrorists” suspected over Rome parcel bombs

According to Italian media, the explosives at both Rome embassies were contained in identical yellow packages the size of a video tape.

The Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni says investigators are focussing their inquiries on anarchist groups.

One source has been quoted as describing those under suspicion as “eco-terrorists”.

The Swiss say there have been other attempted attacks.

“In late October we found a rudimentary device along our border wall here. Then in November another parcel bomb exploded in one of our embassies in Greece,” said the Swiss ambassador to Rome, Bernadino Regazzoni.

The previous device in Rome reportedly included a demand to free three anarchists arrested in Switzerland in April, suspected of plotting to attack a multinational company.

Rome’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno, confirmed that investigators were following international lines of inquiry, but would not discuss it further. It is clear this has no unique Italian context, he said.

The authorities believe there are similarities with last month’s events in Greece.

Suspected anarchists were held after 14 booby-trapped parcels were addressed to European leaders including Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi.

But there is no proof of a link with today’s explosions.

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