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Letter bombs will not stop Spain from backing Kyiv’s ‘just cause’

By James Badcock in Madrid

BOMB disposal experts defused a letter bomb at the US embassy in Madrid yesterday, one of at least six sent to highprofile targets apparently related to support for Ukraine.

The device was later detonated in a controlled explosion by police.

Five other devices were sent to various targets in the country, including one to the Ukrainian embassy that ignited, injuring a security officer, while the office of Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, also received a letter bomb.

According to Spain’s interior ministry, a suspicious package sent by ordinary mail and addressed to Mr Sánchez was “detected and neutralised” in a controlled explosion by the security department at his official residence on Nov 24.

“The letters and their contents were similar in the five cases,” said Rafael Pérez, Spain’s secretary of state for security. Mr Pérez said that the five packages consisted of brown envelopes with what appeared to be incendiary mechanisms inside.

He added that the devices were designed to produce flames, rather than an explosion.

“There is evidence that they were sent from within Spain,” he added.

Yesterday morning, security staff at the defence ministry in Madrid detected a package containing an incendiary device, which was safely destroyed.

The defence ministry said Spanish security forces had also intercepted a letter bomb at an air force base in Torrejón de Ardoz, outside Madrid.

Mr Pérez said the device intercepted at the air base was deactivated without being destroyed, something that could help investigators to trace the origin of the incendiary material inside.

On Wednesday, an incendiary device was discovered at Instalaza, a Zaragoza-based weapons manufacturer, which makes the C90 grenade launcher that Spain has supplied to Ukraine.

Margarita Robles, the Spanish defence minister, who was visiting the Ukrainian port city of Odessa yesterday, said that the letter bombs would not deter Spain from supporting Ukraine’s “just cause”.

The Spanish National Court is investigating the wave of letter bombs as possible crimes of terrorism.

The interior ministry said it had ordered an increase to security measures at public buildings, especially relating to mail services.

The ministry also said that it had ordered a boost to security surrounding diplomatic missions in the country.

The Russian embassy in Spain said: “Any threat or terrorist act, especially directed against a diplomatic mission, are totally condemnable.”

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2022-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/281904482200066

Daily Telegraph