The head of Italy’s tax collection agency was wounded to the hand and eye by a letter bomb on Friday, two days after Italian anarchists claimed responsibility for a bomb sent to the head of Deutsche Bank. Equitalia’s director general Marco Cuccagna detonated the device when he opened a letter at the agency’s headquarters in Rome and has been hospitalised.
Prosecutors said they were launching an inquiry for suspected terrorism and were looking into a possible anarchist link. A police spokesman said that the letter bomb had arrived by regular post. Prime Minister Mario Monti issued a statement expressing “solidarity” and defending the activity of Equitalia at a time in which his government is proposing a series of painful tax increases and pension reforms.