Experts defused the fifth letter bomb on Thursday (1st), as Spain beefed up security to deal with a series of explosive devices sent to high-ranking officials, including the prime minister and the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid.
Early indications suggest that all five packages were sent from within Spain, the deputy interior minister told reporters.
Rafael Pérez, the minister in charge of security, said the homemade devices were shipped in brown packages containing flammable powder and a trigger that would generate “sudden flames” rather than an explosion.
The packages were addressed to those responsible for the institutions to which they were sent.
The US embassy in Madrid received a letter similar to the five letter bombs, reported the TV network La Sexta.
Pérez said one of the devices detonated – wounding a security officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, three more were detonated by security forces in controlled explosions and one was left intact for investigations.
“It appears that they were all shipped from within the country, but we are basing this on initial inspections without having an in-depth technical report yet,” he said.
Pérez said it still did not seem necessary to convene the security committee, which would assess Spain’s rising terrorist threat level, which is already at the second highest level after Islamist attacks in Europe over the past decade.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that it had ordered the police to reinforce security around public buildings and, above all, carefully check postal deliveries.
A source close to the investigation said that while the devices were homemade, “it wasn’t something anyone could do”, and investigators are now trying to trace the contents back to the source.
Spain’s Supreme Court, which specializes in combating terrorism, has opened an investigation.
