Office letter bomb attack leaves tax chief injured

A letter bomb exploded at an office of Italy's tax collection agency yesterday, wounding the organisation's director.

Police are investigating possible links to an Italian anarchist group that claimed credit for a thwarted attack on the chief executive of Deutsche Bank in Germany this week and that had warned of two more "explosions".

The tax agency director, Marco Cuccagna, underwent surgery after suffering injuries to a hand and his face when a glass desktop was shattered by the explosion, the ANSA news agency reported. A Rome police official said there was no direct evidence linking the bomb to the one intercepted on Wednesday in Frankfurt, but that police had been on high alert as a result.

The Italian group, the Informal Anarchist Federation, has also claimed responsibility for package bombs sent to three Rome embassies.