Two hurt as second letter bomb explodes in Britain

[brooklynite]

LONDON (Reuters) - A letter bomb exploded in Britain on Tuesday injuring two people and police said it was too early to say if the blast was linked to a letter bomb on Monday that hurt a woman at a company managing London's congestion charge.

Police and paramedics were called to a business center in Berkshire, southern England, after employees reported a small explosion at the office of Vantis, a business services firm.

"It is likely an item of mail ignited and caused the injuries," police said in a statement.

Police said it was too soon to say whether Tuesday's letter bomb was linked to the device which exploded at the London headquarters of Capita, which collects 25 million payments a year from motorists who pay to drive into central London.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-02-06T131842Z_01_L06681205_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-LETTERBOMB.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-worldNews-9

[Greeby]

1. Sad to say, It's most likely some disgruntled commuter

Who can't see past the end of his nose and probably got riled up about the congestion charges. Mostly likely with help from the Daily Mail and Daily Express

[woodsprite]

2. I was thinking this was the Poodle's version of the anthrax scare in the US. n/t

[bemildred]

4. Hard to say, but worth keeping in mind.

Poodle needs some sort of Hail Mary pass and touchdown real bad now.

[CJCRANE]

5. Yes

that was the first thing that crossed my mind too.

(However in that case it would have been more obviously pinned on muslim extremists - but let's wait and see how it plays out).

[LeftishBrit]

9. I doubt it; because as you say, it's not clearly pinnable on the usual sort of Terra

[brooklynite]

3. Additional details (BBC)

The BBC understands however, that Thames Valley Police are already investigating three other suspect package deliveries.

They have all been sent to businesses in the past few weeks - two in the Thames Valley area and one in Birmingham.

...snip...

In the previous incidents police are investigating, one of the packages delivered to a company called Orchid Cellmark, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, exploded, leaving a woman slightly injured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/6334693.stm

[CJCRANE]

6. Interesting detail -

"Each had a similar return address and a well-known animal rights activist, Barry Horne was named on the back of one envelope. Barry Horne died in 2001."

[Nihil]

10. Whoops.

At least it sounds like the bomber is not too smart ...

[soleft]

7. It's the Commuti-Bomber

:scared:

[LeftishBrit]

8. At the moment, it's thought to be most likely to be some non-mainstream animal rights group

Orchid Cellmark don't work with or use animals so far as I know; but some of the more violent activists are big on 'guilt by association', so who knows what the connection is. (E.g. anyone at all who works in any capacity for my university is explicitly a target for some of them, because a few people in the university work with animals.) Or the bomber may have a grudge against forensic testing, because it was used to convict an associate.

Almost certainly not linked to Al Quaeda or any form of Terra Terra Terra in the usual sense. But I hope they get stopped before they injure someone really seriously.

[soothsayer]

11. Mrs. Peel, you're needed.

You too, Steed!

[HuffleClaw]

12. IIIIIIRRRRRAAAAANNNNNN !!!!!!!!

...oh, wait.