Letter bomb destroyed in Athens

A controlled explosion has been carried out to destroy a letter bomb found outside the Greek justice ministry in the capital Athens, police said today.

No injuries were caused by the explosion, and no further details were given by Greek police.

Athens saw a spate of letter bombings at embassies in November. A militant anarchist group claimed responsibility for those bombings, which caused no serious injuries.

A number of suspects have since been arrested and face charges.

Following today’s incident, police warned other state offices and ministries to watch out for more potentially booby-trapped packages.

The package had been addressed to the office of the minister, with the sender listed as an “independent initiative of lawyers”, said police spokesman Athanasios Kokalakis.

Staff at the ministry deemed the package suspicious and called police.

“We have a similar package to those sent in November,” Mr Kokalakis said, adding that the letter was believed to have contained a small amount of explosives.