.Parcel bomb attacks in Rome rocked the city on Thursday, exploding at the Swiss and Chilean embassies. The attacks injured two people, one critically, and "bore similarities to bombings by anarchists in Greece last month," reports the Associated Press. A senior Italian official says the attacks came from Greece but Greece's Foreign Ministry rejects the claim. There's no confirmation about what group plotted the bombings but an Italian anarchist group is taking responsibility for "at least one of the attacks," reports The New York Times. Here are reactions from around the web:
- Could Be Connected to Leftist Anarchists, writes Joshua Keating at Foreign Policy:
It's obviously still early in this story, but these bombings do seem similar to the explosive packages sent to a number of embassies in Athens in November. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with those bombings, who are believed to be associated with an anarchist group called the Conspiracy of the Fire Nuclei. Italy, like Greece, certainly has a history of violent leftist revolutionary movements, but they've been pretty quiet in recent years.
- Sounds Like the Times Is Being Politically Correct, notes The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg. He cites a line from the report that ponders if the attack was planned by "Italian anarchists, international terrorists or others." His take:
This blog is opposed to the tarring of all Islam with the same brush. On the other hand, this blog opposes the use of euphemism when talking about the Salafist jihad. And "international terrorist" definitely has the scent of euphemism about it.
- Who Would Attack Chile and Switzerland? wonders Jack Steuf at Wonkette, his usual dose of sarcasm decorating an entirely legitimate question:
What is Switzerland's response to this supposed to be other than, "Why the f*** would somebody bomb us?" What are you trying to do, make them more neutral on global intervention and entanglements? Impossible. They’re not trying to take over your homeland/religious homeland! Don’t worry! And Chile? You feel threatened by a country the width of a Toyota Corolla? Are you upset by the celebrity of those cheerful trapped-miner guys?