Letter Explodes at IMF in Paris After Schaeuble Bomb Incident
Schaeuble Sent Parcel With Explosives From Athens, Bild Reports
(Bloomberg) -- One person was slightly injured when a letter bomb exploded at the International Monetary Fund’s Paris office on Thursday, one day after the German finance ministry received a similar package in Berlin.
The package containing explosives in Germany was addressed to Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and intercepted Wednesday in the ministry’s mail room before it was opened. Paris police said the explosion at the IMF was not serious.
Police secure the scene near IMF offices in Paris, March 16.
“I condemn this cowardly act of violence and reaffirm the IMF’s resolve to continue our work in line with our mandate,” Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. “We are working closely with the French authorities to investigate this incident and ensure the safety of our staff.”
The Berlin parcel contained chemicals often used in fireworks and could have caused “serious injuries” if someone had opened it, Berlin police said. A Greek group called "Conspiracy of Fire Cells" sent the package to Schaeuble, according to the Athens News Agency. No one has claimed responsibility for the Paris letter.
The packet sent to Germany was discovered Wednesday morning in the ministry’s mail room in downtown Berlin, prompting a partial evacuation of the building. Explosives experts took the package to a munitions disposal area in one of the capital’s forests, police said.
--With assistance from James Regan Sotiris Nikas and Mark Deen
To contact the reporters on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net, Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net, Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Chad Thomas, Tony Czuczka