Up to four letter bombs were sent to the European Parliament but only one exploded and no one was hurt, officials said today.
The bomb that went off was sent to Mr Hans-Gert Poettering, head of the largest political group in the parliament, and was opened by an employee this morning, a spokesman for Mr Poettering's European People's Party said.
"It caught fire, there was a bang. Nobody was hurt," Mr Robert Fitzhenry said.
Up to three other letter bombs failed to explode, the spokesman for the president of the parliament said.
"We understand that at least two or three packages have arrived but these other packages have not been opened and are being checked by parliamentary security," Mr David Harley said.
"The other packages were all postmarked Bologna and posted on December 22nd," he said.
A series of letter bombs were sent to European officials late last month. Investigators are looking at the possibility Italian anarchists are behind the mailings.
On December 31st, an Italian prosecutor said authorities had blocked mail sent from the Bologna region of northern Italy and addressed to European Union bodies.
He was speaking after four devices in four days were sent from Bologna - to European Commission President Romano Prodi, European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet, EU police agency Europol, and Eurojust, which helps fight cross-border crime.