Austria: letter bomb attacks
01 November 1993
On 5 December Helmut Zilk, the Social Democrat mayor of Vienna was badly injured by a letter bomb and underwent emergency surgery. On 4 December a Austrian police anti-terrorist squad, assigned to protect people prominent in refugee affairs, intercepted a letter bomb sent to Helmut Schueller, the president of the Austrian Caritas Roman Catholic humanitarian organisation. Schueller, a priest, is an outspoken human rights activist. Also on 5 December another letter sent to the parliamentary leader of the Austrian Green Party, Madeleine Petrovic. There have been a series of third letter bomb attacks on people and groups working with refugees.
On 3 December two letter-bombs exploded. One wounded August Janisch, a Catholic priest,
in the southern province of Styria who campaigned to improve the conditions of refugees. He suffered injuries to his hands and face when he opened the letter at home. Croatian-born television presenter, Silvana Meixner, sustained similar injury when she opened a letter addressed to her at the Austrian state television network in Vienna. She presents a weekly programme about Austria's Czech, Slovak and Turkish minorities and refugees from former Yugoslavia, broadcast in their own languages and in German. The letter-bombs ended a lull in attacks on foreign residents and refugees and those concerned with helping them. Police said all three bombs were made the same way with nitroglycerine.
Reuters 4.12.93; Guardian 6.12.93.