Germany: Italian Informal Anarchist Federation claim responsibility for letter bomb sent to CEO of Deutsche Bank

from the press (we will of course release any news we receive about the action from anarchist sources, but this is all we have for now):

Italian activists have claimed responsibility for a letter bomb sent to the head of Deutsche Bank, German investigators revealed today.

Officials investigating the explosive, sent to Josef Ackermann’s office in Frankfurt, Germany, said they had obtained a letter written in Italian from a group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Federation.

In a statement, the Criminal Investigations Office for the state of Hesse and Frankfurt prosecutors said the letter spoke of ‘three explosions against banks, bankers, fleas and bloodsuckers’.

Investigators said they now feared two more letter bombs could have been sent.

The letter bomb addressed to Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann was described as ‘fully functioning’ by experts and could have severely burned him if opened.

Detectives had earlier said they had not ruled out links to the neo-Nazi underground scene following the implosion of the so-called Zwickau Cell which murdered ten people in a campaign of terror lasting over a decade.

The far-right in Germany rejects the euro and ‘big business’ and wants a return to state monopolies of the sort Nazi Germany had back in the 30’s and 40’s.

The Occupy movement, which has a protest camp in Frankfurt, was swift to condemn the attack and insisted its supporters had nothing to do with it.

Ackermann, who is Swiss, is regarded by radicals of both the left and right as an archetypal ‘fat cat’ banker who enjoys multi-million pound bonuses, a lavish lifestyle complete with chauffeured cars and an almost limitless expense account.

As such he has received death threats in the past and already has bodyguards around the clock, both at the bank and at his home in the countryside around Frankfurt.

On Thursday more security personnel was drafted in to the bank’s HQ to protect him and senior aides.

The A5 envelope intercepted at the offices of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt was addressed to Ackermann and marked personal. On the back it had a return address marked as the Central European Bank, also based in Frankfurt.

It was caught in a routine screening by an airport-style detector because it contained wire and pieces of metal.

‘The powder was not dynamite, either military or commercial,’ a police spokesman said today.

‘Had the envelope been opened, the powder could certainly have been dangerous.’

It could have burned the victim on hands, face and upper body, he said.

‘The aim was definitely to hurt someone,’ he added.

The incident also caused alarm 4,000 miles away in New York, where a warning was sent to Wall Street companies to be ‘particularly careful’ in handling packages.

A spokesman for the FBI said; ‘The FBI investigation group for terrorism is working with the German authorities to investigate the incident in Frankfurt and identify possible threats against people or property.’

Ackermann, 63, has headed Deutsche Bank since 2002 and plans to step down in May 2012 after the group’s annual shareholder meeting.

He is currently being investigated by Munich prosecutors over allegedly false testimony he gave in a civil suit connected with the 2002 demise of the massive Kirch media group.

The banking community in Frankfurt, the commercial hub of Germany, is fearful that the bomb could be the precursor to a wave of attacks.

‘There are always people who think such things are a solution,’ said Dr Stefan Popp, who heads another bank in the city.

‘We condemn any actions related to force like this,’ said Franc Stegmaier of Occupy Frankfurt which has been protesting against high finance in the city since October 15.

‘Occupy finds other ways to protest,’ he added.

Attac, the anti-globalisation movement, also distanced itself from the letter bomb attack.