Possibly harmful parcel at German leader's office

German police disarmed a potentially harmful package from Greece at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office Tuesday, hours after similar small mail bombs exploded outside the Russian and Swiss embassies in Athens in attacks blamed on Greek far-left extremists. Greek police destroyed at least three more suspected bombs in Athens, and two local men have been charged with mailing bombs. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the suspicious package intercepted in the mailroom of her office was personally addressed to the German chancellor and "would have been able to harm people."

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the package, which arrived midday at the mailroom of the Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, was sent from Greece two days ago and resembled a series of small mail bombs in Athens. De Maiziere said that not only did the package have a Greek return address, but also authorities had been able to trace that it had been sent from Greece two days ago. "It contained an explosive device," de Maiziere told reporters. "Based on everything that we know, it was built in the same way and visually resembled the package that exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens," he said.