'Operational bomb'
December 8, 2011
A suspicious envelope addressed to the head of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, was a bomb capable of exploding, German investigators said on Thursday.
"Preliminary investigations show it was an operational letter bomb," police said in a statement.
Police have linked an Italian anarchist group, the Federazione Anachica Informale (FAI) to the attempted attack. Scientists who dismantled the unexploded device said it bore traces of FAI handiwork.
The bomb was intercepted in the mailroom at Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt late Wednesday. Frankfurt has been the scene of an Occupy protest movement, but protesters distanced themselves from the attack.
"We condemn any action that is linked to violence," said Frank Stegmaier, an activist with the Occupy Frankfurt group, which as part of an international protest movement against the failures and excesses of bankers has camped outside the European Central Bank since mid-October.
The news agency Reuters quoted unnamed banking sources as saying that security has been ramped up at Deutsche Bank offices around the world. The 63-year-old Ackermann already used bodyguards.
He is the highest paid chief executive of a German blue-chip company, earning 9 million euros ($12 million) in 2010.
Author: Holly Fox, Joanna Impey (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Nancy Isenson