Explosives package sent to Merkel office

BERLIN, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A package of explosives sent to the German chancellor's office in Berlin was disabled by police Tuesday, officials said.

The package was shipped by air from Greece and found in the mail room only hours after letter bombs exploded at embassies in Athens, The New York Times reported.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Belgium at the time, but police evacuated the building before disarming the explosives package with a water cannon.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the explosive device was of the same design and appearance as the one sent to the Swiss Embassy in Athens and had been shipped two days ago.

The Times said Greek police destroyed a suspicious package found at the cargo terminal of Athens International Airport late Tuesday. Officers were inspecting a second package, the newspaper said, but did not confirm whether the packages contained explosives.

The alert in Berlin came after letter bombs exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens Tuesday, with three more suspected devices found at embassies.

CNN reported police carried out controlled explosions of the three other suspicious parcels Tuesday. All were addressed to different embassies.

Officials detonated a package at the Bulgarian Embassy and a suspicious package addressed to the Chilean Embassy, CNN reported, after a courier thought the package at the Chilean Embassy might contain an explosive device.

The third parcel was addressed to the German Embassy, but embassy officials suspected it might be a parcel bomb and sent it back. It was exploded near a courier office, CNN said.

Greek police went on alert Monday after a package sent to the Mexican Embassy exploded in the hands of a courier employee, causing minor injuries, The New York Times reported.

The Times said one of the packages detonated Monday was addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, while two others were sent to the Belgian and Dutch embassies.

Two suspects were being questioned by Greek officials, reports said.