August 18, 2004
Globe and Mail
The Associated Press
Rome — Police defused a bomb near Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's villa on the island of Sardinia early Wednesday following a tip from a radical leftist group, shortly after British Prime Minister Tony Blair finished a visit with the Italian leader.
Police official Giovanni Lopresto, speaking by phone from the Sardinian city of Olbia, said bomb-disposal experts found and defused a device containing dynamite, a fuse and a timer close to a trash can in nearby Porto Rotondo.
News agency ANSA said the bomb was set to explode at 4:30 a.m. local time.
A caller claiming to be from the Proletarian Groups for Communism extremist group phoned in a warning to the island's Unione Sarda newspaper late Tuesday, saying the organization had planted two bombs, said Patrizia Mozzi, a journalist from the paper.
Mr. Mozzi said the caller gave the location of only one device. She said the caller told her: “We promised a summer of fire and this is the response to Berlusconi. War against war” – an apparent reference to Italy's role in the Iraq conflict, which Italian leftist groups fiercely opposed.
ANSA reported earlier that two explosive devices had been found, but Mr. Lopresto insisted that only one was discovered.
Proletarian Groups for Communism has said it was behind several attacks in the past few years, generally aimed at conservative politicians, businesses and union officials. It is one of several domestic political terror groups that have plagued Italy for decades.
Mr. Blair left Sardinia on Tuesday evening after a two-day visit at Berlusconi's villa, returning to Tuscany where his family is vacationing. Berlusconi's villa is on the northeastern coast of Sardinia, a few kilometres from the town of Porto Rotondo.
Security was tight during Mr. Blair's visit, with police stopping cars travelling on a road near the villa for document checks. Officers with sniffer dogs patrolled the outskirts of the villa.
The measures came amid high security across the country following a series of threats against Italy in the name of radical Islamic terror groups. The threats have been published on Islamic websites.
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