Terror inquiry sheds light on parcel bombs

A parcel containing explosives that the guerrilla group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire sent to the office of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was dispatched to Germany on a commercial flight from Athens to Frankfurt, police sources have revealed.

An examination of the x-ray security equipment at Athens International Airport meanwhile revealed that the package in question left Greece on Tuesday. Guards at the ministry in Berlin intercepted it on Wednesday.

An ongoing probe by the Greek Police (ELAS) and Hellenic Post (ELTA), however, had not shed any further light, by late last night, on the route of a second package with explosives that arrived at the Paris offices of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday morning and detonated in the hands of an employee, causing minor injuries.

“All night, police officers were involved in an investigation, together with ELTA and the company which carries out the checks at the airport to establish what went wrong,” Citizens’ Protection Minister Nikos Toskas told Skai TV yesterday.

Information sent to ELAS by the German and French police indicate that the two devices were similar, both comprising small amounts of gunpowder.

Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire has claimed responsibility for sending the package to Berlin but had not commented on the Paris blast by late last night.