Police defuse letter bomb at US embassy

Police have defused a letter bomb found near the main entrance to the heavily-guarded US Embassy in Santiago, Chile.

Police said embassy security personnel alerted them to the suspicious envelope.

The embassy confirmed only that police were called and they handled the situation.

Police said it was a small amount of explosives.

Local radio stations said the envelope also contained pamphlets with anti-US insults.

A government official said an official report was being prepared. Police said no arrests have been made.

No one immediately took responsibility and it was not clear how the envelope was left near the embassy, where security has been reinforced since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.