Anarchists behind letter bombing

AN ITALIAN anarchist group has claimed responsibility for a letter bomb sent to Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, and may have sent two more packages, investigators have said.

The suspicious envelope, intercepted on Wednesday evening, has raised fears that a wave of protests against the failures and excesses of bankers could turn more violent, and prompted police across Europe to warn banks to be extra vigilant.

Mr Ackermann, 63, a Swiss who is the first non-German to head Germany’s biggest bank, is one of the few senior managers in the country always surrounded by bodyguards.

A hidden letter written in Italian from the Federazione Anarchica Informale (“Informal Anarchist Group”) spoke of “three explosions against bankers, banks, fleas and bloodsuckers”, German investigators said.

“It must be deduced from this that two more letter bombs may have been sent,” the Criminal Investigations Office for the state of Hesse and Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement.

Earlier they said initial tests showed the letter bomb sent to Mr Ackermann was operational.

Mr Ackermann is the highest-paid chief executive of a German blue-chip company, earning €9 million in 2010. He is also chairman of the Institute of International Finance, the bank lobbying group negotiating a private sector contribution toward a bailout of Greece.