Letter Bomb Explodes at European Parliament;

No Injuries

Roger Wilkison

A letter bomb sent to a top member of the European Parliament in Brussels exploded Monday in his office, but no one was injured. Investigators believe the incident is linked to several letter bombs that were sent last month from Italy to other European figures and institutions.

The bomb that detonated was addressed to conservative German lawmaker Hans-Gert Poettering, who heads the European People's Party, the biggest political group in the European Parliament.

Mr. Poettering was returning to Brussels from Germany at the time, and the aide who opened the videocassette-sized package suffered no injuries when it burst into flames.

Bomb disposal experts managed to neutralize another suspicious parcel that was addressed to Jose Ignacio Salafranca, a Spanish member of Mr. Poettering's party.

A spokesman for the European Parliament, David Harley, says one or two other suspect packages are being checked by security officials.

Mr. Harley says the packages were mailed from the Italian city of Bologna on December 22. He says he does not know when they arrived at the European Parliament, which reopened on Monday after a long Christmas and New Year's holiday.

Four similar devices were mailed last month from Bologna to other European Union leaders and agencies. One was opened by the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, at his home in Bologna. It did not hurt him, but caused a small fire.

Another was sent to the Frankfurt office of European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, and the others were mailed to the heads of Europol, an EU police agency, and Eurojust, an institution grouping European prosecutors, both of which are based in The Hague. Those bombs also failed to cause any injuries.

On December 31, Italian authorities said they were blocking all mail sent from Bologna to European agencies.

Italian police have linked the devices to a little-known Italian anarchist group that took responsibility for setting off two small bombs in garbage cans outside Mr. Prodi's Bologna home on December 21.

The group says it planted the bombs to strike at what it called the repressive European control apparatus.

注释：

European Parliament  欧洲议会

Brussels [5brQslz] n. 布鲁塞尔（比利时首都）

figure [5fi^E] n. 名人，名流

detonate [5detEuneit] v. 引爆

lawmaker [5lC:meIkE(r)] n. 立法者

Hans-Gert Poettering  汉斯-格特·派特林，德国基民盟成员，欧洲人民党与欧洲民主人士党团主席

European People's Party  欧洲人民党

aide [eid] n. （美）助手，副官

videocassette [5vidiEukB:5set] n. 录像带

bomb disposal expert  排弹专家

neutralize [5nju:trElaIz] v. 排除，致使无效

Bologna [bE5lEunjE] 博洛尼亚（意大利城市）

European Union (EU)  欧盟

European Commission  欧洲委员会

Romano Prodi  罗马诺·普罗迪，欧盟委员会主席，意大利前总理

Frankfurt  法兰克福

European Central Bank  欧洲中央银行

Jean-Claude Trichet  让·克洛德·特里谢，欧洲中央银行行长，同时还是国际货币基金组织轮值主席

Europol   欧洲警察

Eurojust  欧洲法庭

prosecutor [5prCsikju:tE] n. 检举人

Hague [hei^] n. 海牙（荷兰的中央政府所在地，在荷兰西部）

anarchist [5AnEkIst] n. 无政府主义者

set off  使爆炸

garbage can  垃圾桶

plant [plB:nt] vt. 安置

strike at  袭击，打击, 攻击

repressive [rI5presIv] adj. 压抑的，压制的

apparatus [7ApE5reitEs] n. 机构，机关