Letter bombs sent to three European parliamentarians

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Two letter bombs addressed to senior members of the European Parliament went off, bursting into flames when opened, and another was intercepted Monday, the latest in a series of explosives mailed to European Union targets.

No one was injured in the two explosions. Authorities in Brussels also intercepted a suspicious package sent to a fourth parliamentarian and were investigating whether it contained a bomb.

With Monday's packages, seven letter bombs have been sent to EU-linked offices in five countries since Dec. 27. Investigators have zeroed in on an Italian anarchist group -- the "Informal Anarchic Federation" -- as the likely source. Security has been hiked up at EU institutions.

The letters that went off Monday were sent to the Manchester, England, office of British Socialist legislator Gary Titley and the Brussels office of German Hans-Gert Poettering, the head of the conservative European People's Party.

At Titley's office, a staff member opened a parcel that arrived over the Christmas holidays, and it immediately caught fire, enveloping the office in dense, acrid smoke.

"This was a shocking incident," Titley said after he arrived at his office. "There can be no justification for these attacks, which in reality are an attack on democracy."

Similarly, a staffer at Poettering's office opened a padded envelope that appeared to contain a book, and it immediately burst into flame.

"Luckily, she was not injured," said party spokeswoman Fiona Kearns. Poettering was on his way to Brussels from Germany when the attack happened.

An identical package was discovered addressed to Jose Ignacio Salafranca, a Spanish member of the European People's Party. Bomb experts neutralized the explosive.

The two opened packages were postmarked Dec. 22 from Bologna, the Italian city from which the earlier attacks over the past two weeks are believed to have originated. The two packages were "identical in every respect -- the same size, posted on the same day and from the same place," said David Harley, a spokesman for European Parliament President Pat Cox.