Greek bombs: Gunpowder in books

ATHENS, Greece - The two young Greek men who allegedly mailed a wave of micro-bombs to embassies and foreign leaders used simple gunpowder and hollowed-out books to rattle nerves across Europe, according to investigators and court documents seen by the Associated Press.

Writing the names of Greece's top cleric, the deputy prime minister, and the country's finance ministry, among others, as senders, a 22-year-old chemistry student and a jobless 24-year-old were allegedly able to send explosive packages as far as German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office.

Only one person was slightly hurt, and only two devices made it out of Greece.

Most of the 14 located by Thursday were addressed to embassies in Athens, with one intended for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Only two went off where intended, while Greek authorities believe one or two may still be in the mail.

But the campaign exposed flaws in Europe's mail security network and prompted calls for stricter continentwide screening processes.

Police in central Athens destroyed a package addressed to the French Embassy on Thursday, using a 48-hour ban on airmail post and courier deliveries abroad - which was to end at midnight (6 p.m. Philadelphia time) - to rescreen thousands of packages.

The name of Archbishop Hieronymos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, was written as the sender, police said.

A civil aviation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said deliveries to the United States resumed earlier Thursday after U.S. Embassy security experts inspected scanning equipment and processes at Athens airport and "gave the go-ahead."

Authorities said one of the suspects is believed to belong to a radical anarchist group that has quickly evolved in two years from an annoying source of arson attacks to a full-scale security concern.

Terrorism expert Mary Bossi told private Skai television the mail bombings could be seen as part of a trend in which anticapitalist groups are turning to greater use of violence in a continent still troubled by recession.

Greece has seen a spike in militant attacks - including a deadly letter bombing earlier this year - since riots in 2008 triggered by a police shooting of a teenage boy.

Most of the bombs were intercepted and destroyed in Athens, but small blasts at a delivery company and two embassies left one delivery worker slightly singed.

Packages addressed to Merkel - also in a hollowed-out book - and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusoni were only stopped in Berlin and Italy's Bologna Airport.

The Athens bombs appear not to have been intended to kill. Police investigators and senior officials said a small amount of gunpowder, probably scraped out of firecrackers, was used, to be ignited by an electric bulb filament wired to a small battery.

Details from a court indictment, a copy of which was seen by the AP, described how the devices were packaged.

"Pages from a book on Greece's legal code were cut in a uniform way . . . to conceal an improvised explosive device," the document said. "The book was covered on bubble wrap and plain blown paper with a clear plastic label."