Article by Daniele Mariani.
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A series of letter bombings and failed attacks over the past year point to the evolving threat posed by anarchist groups. Switzerland is particularly exposed.

The group of anarchists from Italy believed to be behind the attacks are connected to three alleged eco-terrorists in detention in Switzerland.

The most recent attack involved a letter bomb sent to the office of the Swiss nuclear power lobby organisation at the end of March.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it believed the group responsible was the same one behind last year’s foiled bombing of the IBM research centre outside Zurich, and the letter bombs sent to the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome last December, which injured three people.

These attacks and others have been claimed by the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), not to be confused with the Italian Anarchist Federation (also FAI). The former first appeared on the scene in 2003 when it sent a series of parcel bombs to various politicians and European institutions. Italy’s anti-terrorism experts have called it a body without a head.

But why is Switzerland a target? When claiming responsibility for the attacks over the past 12 months, FAI expressed its solidarity with the three persons – two Italians and one Swiss-Italian – currently in pre-trial detention in connection with the planned attack on the IBM centre.

The three were caught in possession of 476 grammes of explosives and other components needed to build an improvised explosive device (IED) which they were suspected of wanting to use against the centre’s nanotechnology centre, then under construction. Also found in the car were 31 letters written in German and claiming responsibility for the attack in the name of a group calling itself ELF Switzerland Earth Liberation Front.