Scooter bomb hits Rome

ROME -- A bomb hidden in a motor scooter exploded outside the Interior Ministry before dawn Tuesday. No one was hurt, but the blast unnerved a nation fearful of a major attack and mindful of its history of domestic terrorism.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, and it was unclear who might have been behind it. Italy was plagued by political attacks in the 1970s and 1980s, and after the Sept. 11 attacks authorities have been vigilant for an attack on Italian soil.

The bomb was planted on a parked scooter in a side street outside the Interior Ministry, headquarters of the national police and security services.

Interior Minister Claudio Scajola described it as "a very serious act carried out against the symbol of the state's security."

Police said the bomb was likely intended to attract attention rather than do grave harm.

"The street is virtually deserted at that hour, there is no traffic, and even the explosive device was not that powerful," said Col. Gianfranco Cavallo of the Carabinieri paramilitary police. "If they wanted to cause serious damage, they would have placed the bomb in front of a door."

Bomb experts combed the area in downtown Rome for fragments of the bomb, and security officials interviewed witnesses and reviewed tapes from surveillance cameras outside the building.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi hinted that he suspected a domestic political group. Asked who might have been behind the blast, he alluded to the attacks of the past, saying: "There's recent history that can't be ignored."

Last week, Italian authorities arrested a group of Moroccans suspected of planning a terror attack against the U.S. Embassy in Rome, which is a little over a half-mile north of the Interior Ministry. Also last week, a Milan court handed down guilty verdicts in Europe's first trial linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.

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