Washington – The United States stepped up security procedures Monday after an attempted parcel bombing at the Greek embassy in Rome, officials said.
“We have notified all US embassies worldwide to review current mail screening procedures and to continue vigilance when opening mail,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at a briefing.
“In Rome, we are monitoring the situation with local law enforcement. We have alerted allUS Embassy Rome personnel that if they receive anything suspicious — either at the Embassy or at their residences — to inform the Regional Security Officer immediately,” he added.
Toner spoke after officials at the Greek embassy in Italy received a package similar to ones that exploded last week at the Swiss and Chilean embassies.
The interception of the parcel bomb for the Greek embassy was followed by around 10 false alarms at other foreign embassies around Rome.
The U.S. embassy in London was a target of a group of men arrested last week in Britain and charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and preparing acts of terrorism, the U.S. State Department said on Monday, Reuters report.
Twelve men were arrested on Dec. 20 in what British police said were counter-terrorism raids essential to protect the public from the threat of attack.
Three were later released without charges, leaving nine who appeared in court on Monday to face the charges.
Asked if he was aware of reports the suspects indicated that the U.S. embassy in London was on their target list, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters: “I am aware and … obviously our folks in London are aware of this.”
In response to a follow-up question during a telephone briefing with reporters, Toner said: “You asked me if we were aware that we were on the targeting list and I confirmed that.”
The suspects were from London, the Welsh capital of Cardiff and the central English city of Stoke.
A British police statement said the men had conspired to cause “explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property”.
It added they had been downloading material from the Internet, researching and discussing potential targets, carrying out reconnaissance and “igniting and testing incendiary material”.
The police statement did not specify what the potential targets were.
source : onlinesumatra.com
