A Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for a spate of package bombs sent to European leaders and foreign embassies earlier this month, disrupting mail services but causing no injuries. Two members of the group were arrested on Nov. 1.

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AFP - A Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for posting more than a dozen parcel bombs to European leaders and embassies, police said, in a campaign that caused alarm but no major injuries.



Two members of the radical Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei who were arrested as the rigged parcels were sent out early this month confirmed their involvement in a letter sent to the Indymedia website, police said.



They claimed "the dispatch of parcel bombs to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the headquarters of the World Court in The Hague and the embassies of Belgium and Mexico in Athens," according to the letter.



"We are very proud of our action ... ," said the letter signed by chemistry student Panayotis Argyriou, 22, and Gerassimos Tsakalos, 24, who were arrested in Athens on November 1.



It added that "even in the difficult conditions of our imprisonment, we are not going to stop publicising our positions in favour of armed violence and revolution".



The men were detained hours after the first booby-trapped parcel, addressed for the Mexican embassy in Athens, exploded in a postal office.



Police then discovered to two more, one addressed to Sarkozy and the other for the Belgian embassy in the Greek capital.



In total 14 parcels containing books or folders apparently filled with an explosive powder were sent from Greece in the first week of November, including one that reached the offices of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and another intercepted in Italy and meant for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.



The far-left Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, labelled a "terrorist" group by Greek authorities, emerged in 2008 with the first of its arson and bomb attacks on government buildings and the offices and homes of Greek politicians that have never caused serious injury.



The rigged parcels from Greece and two bombs posted from Yemen were discovered on planes headed to the United States in attempted attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda.



This led to a meeting between European and US aviation security experts to identity weaknesses in air cargo and post within the European Union.

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