Spain steps up security as PM's office targeted in spate of letter-bombs - Reuters

MADRID, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Spain has stepped up information astatine nationalist and diplomatic buildings aft a spate of letter-bombs were sent to targets including the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the Ukrainian embassy, the Interior Ministry said connected Thursday.

The ministry said that an "envelope with pyrotechnic material" addressed to Sanchez was received connected Nov. 24 and disarmed by his information team.

The instrumentality was "similar" to consequent packages received by the Ukrainian embassy and a Spanish arms steadfast connected Wednesday, it said, and a instrumentality intercepted astatine Spain's Torrejon de Ardoz aerial unit basal successful the aboriginal hours of Thursday morning.

The archetypal letter-bomb was received and opened by a information serviceman astatine the Ukrainian embassy connected Wednesday lunchtime and exploded, causing insignificant injuries to the official.

Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev told the Ukrainian quality tract European Pravda that the suspicious bundle addressed to him was handed to the embassy's Ukrainian commandant.

"The bundle contained a box, which raised the commandant's suspicions and helium decided to instrumentality it extracurricular – with nary 1 successful the vicinity – and unfastened it," Pohoreltsev was quoted arsenic saying.

"After opening the container and proceeding a click that followed, helium tossed it and past heard the explosion...Despite not holding the container astatine the clip of the explosion, the commandant wounded his hands and received a concussion."

EU SATELLITE CENTRE ALSO TARGETED

After the archetypal incident, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered each of Kyiv's embassies overseas to "urgently" fortify information and urged Spain to analyse the attack, a Ukrainian ministry spokesperson said.

A 2nd bundle was confirmed to person been received connected Wednesday nighttime astatine the office of Spanish weapons manufacturer, Instalaza successful Zaragoza, successful northeastern Spain, constabulary said.

Instalaza manufactures the C90 rocket launcher that Spain has supplied to Ukraine.

Spanish information forces recovered a 3rd suspected explosive instrumentality hidden successful an envelope mailed to a European Union outer centre located astatine an aerial unit basal successful Torrejon de Ardoz, extracurricular Madrid, the defence ministry said.

After scanning the envelope by X-ray, aerial unit information officers determined it contained "a mechanism", the ministry connection said.

The outer centre supports the EU's communal overseas and information argumentation by gathering accusation from abstraction quality devices, according to its website. EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell described specified systems arsenic "the eyes of Europe" successful September.

Spanish paper El Mundo reported that different instrumentality had been sent to Spain's Ministry of Defence successful Madrid, but this has not yet been confirmed by the authorities.

Spain's High Court, which specialises successful coercion offences, has opened a probe into the attack.

Reporting by Inti Landauro, Belen Carreno and Emma Pinedo; Writing by Inti Landauro and Aislinn Laing, Editing by Alison Williams and Alex Richardson

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