Left group claims Rome bomb

The blast in Rome damaged a building housing a U.S.-Italian institute

ROME, Italy -- A left-wing group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack which damaged a building housing a U.S.-Italian institute in Rome.

An e-mail from Nuclei di Iniziativa Proletaria Rivoluzionaria was sent to a newspaper saying the blast was in protest at attempts to limit the right of workers to strike.

Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on a second bomb found hours later outside the former offices of car maker Fiat in Turin on Tuesday.

The first bomb went off at about 4:45 a.m. (0245 GMT) in the entrance of a building close to the capital's central Piazza del Popolo.

The building houses the Institute for International Affairs and the Association for Relations Between Italy and the United States.

Think-tank vice president Stefano Silvestri said the institute had not received any threats.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Rome said the Italian-U.S. association was not linked to the embassy.

No-one was injured in the explosion which came about one month before Italy holds national elections on May 13.

Police said they did not believe the two bombs were linked.

Last December, a bomb exploded in the Rome offices of a communist newspaper, prompting the Italian Government to warn of a possible wave of politically motivated attacks.

That bomb, which went off in the entrance lobby of Il Manifesto, injured an extreme right-wing activist who was carrying the device.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Institute of International Affairs
Fiat

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