Bomb blast at Italian barracks kills one

A small bomb exploded at a barracks near Rome yesterday, killing one officer of the Carabinieri paramilitary police and wounding another, an officer said.

"It was an explosive device," the officer said, declining to give his name. It was not clear how the device was taken into the barracks, but Italian police are often the target of small parcel bombs sent by local militants, usually anarchists.

The device exploded in a room used for sorting mail at the Carabinieri barracks in Latina, south of the capital, a police source said. The Carabinieri ordered all other barracks in the region to be searched for bombs.

Italy, which has troops in Iraq, is on a high state of alert in case of a terrorist attack similar to bombings that have struck Madrid and London over the last two years.