In late November and early December 2022, a number of

letter bomb A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with t ...

s were mailed to locations across Spain. Packages were received at high-profile individuals and locations, including the

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

Moncloa Moncloa-Aravaca is a district of the municipality of Madrid, Spain. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, spanning across both banks of the Manzanares. It is made up of the neighborhoods of Aravaca, Argüelles, Casa de Campo, Ciuda ...

residence, the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

embassies in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Torrejon Air Base, and the arms manufacturer

Instalaza Instalaza SA is a Spanish firm that designs, develops and manufactures equipment and other military material for infantry. The company, founded in 1943, is headquartered in Zaragoza, Aragon, where its production plant is also located. Instalaza's ...

. One person was injured in the attacks—a security officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.

Timeline

On 24 November 2022, a letter bomb, addressed to the

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

, arrived at

Moncloa Palace The Palace of Moncloa or Moncloa Palace ( es, Palacio de la Moncloa) is the official residence and workplace of the Prime Minister of Spain. It is located in Puerta de Hierro Avenue, in the Moncloa-Aravaca district in Madrid. It has been the off ...

in Madrid, Spain. The bomb was destroyed in a controlled explosion, with no injuries reported. On 30 November 2022, further letter bombs were mailed. The first was mailed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, exploding when a security officer opened it in the garden of the embassy, leaving a "very small wound" on one finger. Arms manufacturer

, in Zaragoza, received a similar package hours later. On 1 December 2022, before dawn, another letter bomb was intercepted after being detected by a scanner, at the Torrejon Air Base near Madrid. The package was addressed to the

European Union Satellite Centre The European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen; previously EUSC) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that supports the EU's decision-making in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including crisis management mission ...

at the base. On the same day, an additional letter bomb was received at the

Defence Ministry {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a g ...

and was defused. A sixth letter bomb was sent to the US embassy in Madrid and was intercepted at around 12.30 pm local time. It was subsequently "safely detonated."

Investigation and responses

Each of the letter bombs were reportedly similar, in brown envelopes addressed to the heads of each institution. The devices consisted of loose gunpowder with an electrical ignition mechanism, resulting in a burning, rather than exploding effect. An official, Rosa Serrano, told radio station

SER Ser or SER may refer to: Places * Ser, a village in Bogdand Commune, Satu Mare County, Romania * Serpens (Ser), an astronomical constellation of the northern hemisphere * Serres, known as Ser in Serbian, a city in Macedonia, Greece Organization ...

that the packages sent to both the Ukrainian embassy and Instalaza had the same return address. In response to the letter bomb attacks, Spanish authorities increased security measures at public and diplomatic buildings. The

Foreign Minister of Ukraine The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine ( uk, Міністерство закордонних справ України) is the ministry of the Ukrainian government that oversees the foreign relations of Ukraine. The head of the ministry is t ...

Dmytro Kuleba Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( uk, Дмитро Іванович Кулеба; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and communications specialist, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is also concurrently a member ...

ordered that the security of all Ukrainian embassies be increased, and urged Spain to investigate the attack. Spain's High Court was reported to have opened an investigation for a possible case of terrorism. In December 2022, Spanish authorities disclosed they believed the letters were postmarked from the city of

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

. According to a January 2023

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

report citing unnamed U.S. officials, Spanish investigators and their Western foreign counterparts have come to believe that the letter bomb attacks were perpetrated by the

Russian Imperial Movement The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM; russian: Русское Имперское Движениe, translit=Russkoe imperskoe dvizhenie, RID)Marlene Laruelle, ''Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields'' (Routledge, 2 ...

acting on behalf of Russian intelligence. U.S. officials had also suspected Russian military intelligence officers of directing associates of a white supremacist militant group to carry out the attacks.

Arrest of suspect

On 26 January 2023, a 74-year-old Spanish citizen was arrested by Spanish police on suspicion of sending the letter bombs. The Spanish Interior Ministry reported that there were no indications of any association with far-right organizations or Russia. They stated that they believed the suspect was responsible for making and sending all six letter bombs himself, but that the possibility of "participation or influence of other people" was not ruled out.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spain letter bomb attacks, 2022 2022 in international relations 2022 crimes in Spain 2022 in Madrid November 2022 events in Spain December 2022 events in Spain November 2022 crimes in Europe December 2022 crimes in Europe Terrorist incidents in Europe in 2022 Attacks on diplomatic missions in Spain Attacks on diplomatic missions of Ukraine Attacks on diplomatic missions of the United States Failed assassination attempts in Europe Terrorism in Spain Terrorist incidents involving postal systems Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Letter bomb Torrejón de Ardoz History of Zaragoza Spain–Ukraine relations Spain–United States relations Ukraine–United States relations