THE FBI has warned people against the danger of further letter bombs posted in Egypt after the discovery of eight devices, mainly in Washington.
The letter bombs were discovered yesterday. Four had been delivered to the Washington office of the Arabic language newspaper Al Hayat, which has its headquarters in London.
Two had been sent to the parole officer in Leavenworth federal prison in Kansas, where one of the inmates is the blind Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, sentenced a year ago for plotting to blow up bridges and tunnels in the New York area.
A further letter bomb was found yesterday in Leavenworth. But FBI officials are refusing to link the bombs to the Islamic prisoners. No one has claimed responsibility for sending them.
All the letters had been posted in Alexandria, Egypt, and were postmarked the week before Christmas. The letters apparently contained Christmas musical greetings, but suspicions were first aroused when a journalist at Al Hayat noticed a wire sticking from the bulky greeting card and what looked like plastic explosive.
Officials said that the devices were powerful enough to kill people in the same room.
The discovery of two later suspicious envelopes addressed to the paper caused the evacuation of the National Press Club building, where the newspaper has an office on the 11th floor. Some of the devices were exploded harmlessly in a remote area and others were disarmed for further investigation.
Al Hayal newspaper is owned by a prominent member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Khalid bin Sultan, son of the defence minister, and Saudi commander during the Gulf War. It is one of the most respected papers in the Arabic world and is widely read.
Some observers speculate that the letter bombs are an attempt to undermine the Saudi royal family.