Lone bomber sought in Italy school attack

BRINDISI, Italy?? A bomb attack that killed a teenage girl and wounded 10 other people in the southern Italian town of Brindisi was probably done by an individual operating alone, a senior official said on Sunday, playing down initial suspicions of mafia involvement.

Saturday's attack on the Francesca Morvillo Falcone school, a vocational training institute named after the wife of a famed anti-mafia judge, horrified Italy and sparked speculation it was the work of southern Italy's organized crime gangs.

However, the Brindisi chief prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said it now appeared unlikely that either the Sicilian Mafia or the local version, known as the United Sacred Crown, was behind the attack.

"The most probable hypothesis is that it was an isolated act," Marco Dinapoli told reporters at a news conference held yards away from where the attack took place.

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"It seems improbable, not entirely to be excluded, but improbable, that it is connected with mafia networks," he said, adding that attacks on other schools appeared unlikely.

Video: Bombing kills student in Italy

Dinapoli said police already had a facial composite picture of the suspect they believe was behind the attack which killed 16-year-old Melissa Bassi and transformed a quiet morning in the Italian provinces into what looked like a war zone.

Local media in Brindisi reported that two men, one a former soldier with knowledge of explosives, had been questioned by police and released. There was no confirmation from prosecutors.

Suspicions of mafia involvement were fed not only by the fact that the school was named after the wife of murdered anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, but also that the attack took place days before the 20th anniversary of the couple's death in a bomb attack in Sicily.

Thousands took to the streets in demonstrations of sympathy and outrage at the mafia on Saturday but Dinapoli said it was still unclear what had prompted the attack and said no claim of responsibility had been received.

Dinapoli said investigators had acquired "significant" video evidence that suggested one man had set off the device which exploded as pupils were getting off a bus for the start of lessons on Saturday morning.

He declined to describe the video evidence other than to say it showed a mature individual activating a remote control to detonate a rudimentary bomb made of three gas canisters hidden in a container outside the school gates.

"It could be a person who feels at war with the world, it could be someone who wants to create tension for some ideological reason," Dinapoli said. Italian media reported that the man was believed to be between 50 and 55 years of age.

In Brindisi, a port town on Italy's Adriatic coast, there was a palpable feeling of shock, with businesses carrying signs declaring they were in mourning.

Photographs of a smiling Melissa were posted around the city and there were a flood of tributes on Facebook.

People placed flowers at police barriers around the 1970s-era school in a nondescript part of town where pupils study fashion, tourism and social services. The atmosphere was made heavier by news of a deadly earthquake striking northern Italy.

Another girl, Veronica Capodieci, has been transferred to a hospital in the larger city of Lecce. She is still in serious condition, but the hospital reported on Sunday that she was stable and had regained consciousness.

Whoever was behind it, the deadly attack on a school was a shock for a country grappling with economic decline and political scandals, struggling to regain national confidence.

"The school is symbol of innocence and hope. The moment a school is attacked you have to ask yourself where things are heading," said Franco Scoditti, the mayor of Melissa's home town of Mesagne, near Brindisi.

Italy, which has a long history of political and mafia-related violence, has recently seen a series of attacks on the main tax and debt collection agency, as well as the shooting of the head of nuclear engineering group Ansaldo Nucleare which prompted Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri to step up security at high-risk sites.

With several suicides by struggling small businessmen illustrating the growing impact of Italy's economic crisis, there have been fears of a return to the kind of political violence of the 1970s "Years of Lead" when extreme right and left-wing groups carried out bombings and assassinations.

On Sunday, Pope Benedict added his commiserations to messages of sympathy from leaders including French President Francois Hollande, saying he was praying for "Melissa, the innocent victim of brutal violence and her family."

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

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