Madrid, Dec 1 (AFP\/APP):Spanish police were investigating Thursday a series of letter bombs sent to targets including the prime minister and the US embassy, similar to one which went off at the Ukrainian embassy, hurting a staff member.<\/p>\n
The interior ministry revealed that an envelope with “pyrotechnic material” had arrived at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s official residence on November 24. It was destroyed in a controlled explosion.<\/p>\n
Spain’s High court meanwhile announced it had broadened an initial investigation over the Ukraine embassy letter bomb to cover the all the other incidents.<\/p>\n
Both announcements came a day after the security officer at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid suffered a light injury to one hand while opening a letter bomb addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador, an incident that prompted Kyiv to boost security at its embassies worldwide.<\/p>\n
That letter, like the others discovered, arrived by regular mail.<\/p>\n
Later in the evening, a second “suspicious postal shipment” was intercepted at the headquarters of military equipment firm Instalaza in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, the interior ministry said.<\/p>\n
Instalaza makes the grenade launchers that Spain donates to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Then on Thursday morning letter bombs arrived and at the defence ministry; and at an air base in Torrejon de Ardoz, just outside Madrid, from where weapons donated by Spain are sent to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“The characteristics of the envelopes, as well as their content, are similar in the five cases,” Spain’s Secretary of State of Security, Rafael Perez, told journalists.<\/p>\n
“There are signs that indicate that the letters came from Spanish territory, but I insist we must be prudent…we are at the beginning of the investigation.”<\/p>\n
A few hours after he spoke the interior ministry said another letter “with similar characteristics as the others” had been intercepted at the US embassy in Madrid.<\/p>\n
– ‘Terrorist methods’ – <\/p>\n
Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, appeared to blame Russia for the letter bomb at its embassy.<\/p>\n
“We are well aware of the terrorist methods of the aggressor country,” he said during an interview late Wednesday with Spanish public television.<\/p>\n
“Russia’s methods and attacks require us to be ready for any kind of incident, provocation or attack,” he added.<\/p>\n
But in a statement Thursday, Russia’s embassy in Spain said: “Any threat or terrorist act, especially those that target a diplomatic mission, is to be totally condemned.”<\/p>\n
The letter to the defence ministry was addressed to Defence Minister Margarita Robles. The one sent to the air base was meant for a European Union satellite centre located there.<\/p>\n
That centre supports the bloc’s foreign and security policy by gathering information from satellite imagery, according to its website.<\/p>\n
After scanning the envelope that arrived at the air base by X-ray, security officers determined it contained “a mechanism”, the ministry statement said. Police were still analysing the envelope.<\/p>\n
– ‘Soaked in red liquid’ –<\/p>\n
In Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said three embassies had now received threatening letters.<\/p>\n
The letters had not contained explosives but another substance, he added, saying only that they had been “soaked in red liquid”.<\/p>\n
Kuleba has already ordered the strengthening of security at all of their embassies, the country’s foreign ministry said Wednesday after the letter bomb went off at the embassy in Madrid.<\/p>\n
Spain’s interior minister said it had ordered increased security measures at all embassies and consulates in the country, as well as “other sites that require special protection”.<\/p>\n
Security had already been boosted in February after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
In addition to sending arms to help Ukraine, Spain is training Ukrainian troops as part of a European Union programme and providing humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madrid, Dec 1 (AFP\/APP):Spanish police were investigating Thursday a series of letter bombs sent to targets including the prime minister and the US embassy, similar to one which went off at the Ukrainian embassy, hurting a staff member. The interior ministry revealed that an envelope […]<\/p>\n
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