EU: A letter bomb was intercepted yesterday at the Dutch headquarters of the European Union's police agency, Europol, and was deactivated before it caused any damage.
The letter bomb was the third sent to prominent EU figures or bodies in three days.
"The letter bomb was delivered at the Europol head office in The Hague but their staff was suspicious about it," spokeswoman Ms Astrid Rijsdorp of the public prosecutor's office in The Hague said.
"They warned the bomb squad who defused it in time and nobody got injured," she said.
Ms Rijsdorp said police were investigating the device but declined to give further details.
Europol is the EU's law enforcement organisation that handles criminal intelligence and assists authorities in EU states in their fight against serious forms of organised crime.
The letter bomb was intercepted the same day as European Central Bank president Mr Jean-Claude Trichet was sent a suspected letter bomb. A parcel exploded in the hands of European Commission President Romano Prodi on Saturday.
The letter addressed to Mr Trichet was apparently sent from the Italian city of Bologna where Mr Prodi lives, a police spokesman said.
It was discovered in the post room at the Frankfurt-based central bank mid-morning yesterday, he said.
Mr Trichet himself never handled the letter, although the ECB declined to say where he was at the time.
The letter was being examined by the Hesse state criminal agency to determine whether any explosive was present.
A source in Frankfurt said yesterday that the letter contained an explosive powder and wires and it appeared to be a homemade device.
There was no immediate indication of who might be responsible for sending the letter, which comes amid heightened security fears around the world since the September 11th attacks in 2001.
Meanwhile, Mr Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, said he opened the parcel carefully on Saturday after "recent warnings", apparently in reference to two small home-made bombs that exploded in rubbish bins near his home on December 22nd.
The parcel bomb exploded when Mr Prodi opened it at his Bologna home but he was not hurt.