Spain Prime Minister, US Embassy Receive Bomb Packages After Ukraine Embassy Explosion - Bombs Detonated

Spain Prime Minister, US Embassy Receive Bomb Packages After Ukraine Embassy Explosion – Bombs Detonated
A day after a suspicious parcel addressed to the Ukrainian Embassy burned upon opening and injured a worker, police in Spain reportedly detonated a suspicious envelope found at the US Embassy in Madrid. OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images

A day after a suspicious box sent to the Ukrainian Embassy detonated upon opening and injured a worker, police in Spain detonated a suspicious package found at the US Embassy in Madrid, Spanish officials said on Thursday.

The operation came after police reported that numerous explosive packages had been delivered to Spain over the previous two days, according to Spain's police, who added that the destroyed package "included substances comparable to those used in pyrotechnics."

US Embassy in Spain Received a Letter Bomb

The defense ministry of Spain, an EU satellite facility at the Torrejón de Ardoz air station south of Madrid, and an arms factory in northern Spain that produces grenades for Ukraine all received them, according to the police.

According to the authorities, an explosive device that was sent by regular post to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on November 24 was also detonated.

The envelope that was confiscated at the American embassy's security screening point "had identical features as the previous ones," according to the interior ministry of Spain, which oversees the nation's police services.

Authorities then set it off after Spanish police had cordoned off a sizable area around the embassy in the heart of Spain's city, AP News reported.

After a bomb went off at the Ukrainian embassy in the capital on Wednesday and another was deactivated at an armaments manufacturer, a previous bomb that had been shipped to an air force installation close to Madrid was found early on Thursday morning.

On November 24, a package addressed to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived at his official Moncloa property, and his security detail immediately recognized it as odd. They executed a "managed explosion" of the envelope after constructing a security perimeter," according to a statement from the interior ministry.

Per CNN, the most recent letter bomb was addressed to the Torrejon air force installation and was intercepted Thursday soon before dawn. According to representatives of the Spanish defense ministry, a scanner at the base picked up a suspicious envelope.

According to a statement, the scan suggested that the envelope may contain "some form of device." The envelope, which was addressed to the Satellite Center at the air base, was examined by police after they were called to the facility.

According to Rafael Perez, the Secretary of State for Security, the Spanish defense ministry also received a mail bomb addressed to Margarita Robles, the defense minister. Perez said the letters were probably mailed from Spanish territory, and in four of the five incidents, security precautions were successful in disarming the devices.

The minister advised people to remain "calm," adding that there was still no justification for issuing a terror alert.

Numerous Letter Bombs Detected in Spain

Another mail bomb was delivered to the offices of Instalaza, a Spanish company that produces weaponry and military equipment, some of which is used to support Ukrainian soldiers. The Spanish police evacuated Instalaza's offices in Zaragoza and dispatched bomb squads to detonate the letter bomb in a controlled manner. Early on Thursday, authorities discovered a fourth mail bomb.

It was addressed to the director of the European Union Satellite Center, which conducts security analysis for the organization and is located at an air base close to a suburb northeast of Madrid. At the Defense Ministry's Madrid offices on Thursday morning, a different letter addressed to Margarita Robles, the Spanish defense minister, was discovered.

According to preliminary evidence, the envelopes may have been sent from within Spanish territory, according to Pérez, who added that the Spanish police were examining the packages for fingerprints and DNA as well as running handwriting tests.

These improvised explosive devices, often known as parcel bombs, letter bombs, or package bombs, are all intended to look harmless from the outside while dismembering or killing whoever opens them, as per NY Times.

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