A letter bomb exploded Wednesday at the offices of Italy's private Rete 4 television station, the network owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset company said.
An incendiary device also went off as a letter was opened by an employee of Italian clothing maker Benetton at company headquarters in the northern town of Ponzano but caused no injuries or other damage.
The blasts came as Italy was preparing to host a Group of Eight (G8) summit which opens Friday in Genoa. A member of Italy's paramilitary carabinieri police force was seriously wounded by a letter bomb in the Mediterranean port city Monday.
The letter mailed to the TV network's Tg 4 news director Emilio Fede was opened by one of the secretaries.
She was said to have suffered burns to her hands and arms in the blast which filled the editors' office with smoke. The woman was in a state of shock and taken to hospital for treatment.
Editors condemned the explosion in a statement, calling it "an act of intimidation" and an attack on the freedom of the press.
A journalist said that the envelope looked as if it contained a cassette of a type frequently sent to Rete 4 offices.
Wires were hanging from it after the blast.
"We were in the corridor when we heard this bang," said another journalist. "We saw smoke and Emilio Fede's secretary with light injuries to her hands."
The director was not in the office at the time of the blast.
Fede said during a news program on Berlusconi's Canale 5 television network half hour after the explosion that the envelope contained a video cassette.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions but I would say that this was not a home-made bomb.
"It was no warning; the girl risked a lot and could have lost her sight," he added.
Two false alerts near Milan's cathedral also kept police busy. One suspicious bag which was exploded by experts only contained pork chops.
In the northern city of Bologna police was inspecting a suspect parcel after a bomb alert -- MILAN, Italy (AFP)
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