Rossi bomb sent by anti-globalisation group.

Spanish press agency Efe has reported that an anti-globalisation group are behind the recent spate of parcel bombs in Spain and Italy, including those sent to Spanish owned Iberian airlines - as many as two of which contained threats against Valentino Rossi, due to his Repsol links.

Thankfully all of the explosive devices, which were also sent to Spanish newspaper El Pa?s and the Rome headquarters of Italian TV company RAI, have been defused without harm to the public, but the security forces remain on high alert.

Efe names the group behind the bombing campaign as 'The Five C' whose name derives from the signature attached to their threats. This [when translated] reads: "The Cell against Capitalism, Jails, its Jailers and its Cells" - in Spanish the five words all begin with C, hence the name.

Their demands to end the threats typically include the release of prisoners [some being held for murder] and 'better treatment' for what they term political prisoners.

The group is well known in Spain and Italy and is believed to have been behind a bomb, which was defused, in Milan Cathedral in December 2000. Another, which injured an Italian Canel TV secretary in July 2001 [when the G8 summit was being held] was also later attributed to them.

The group's recent bombs have again all been real and contained a relatively small - but lethal - amount of explosive [approx. 10grams].

The threat against Rossi seems to have been made simply because his factory Honda team is sponsored by Spanish petroleum giant Repsol. Repsol, Iberia and the Italian targets appear to be have been chosen because they are among the largest companies in their country.

A note attached to one of the explosive devices sent to Iberian Airlines warned Rossi to end his association with Repsol-ypf or 'face the consequences'.

As a result of this threat, which seems designed for maximum publicity rather than a serious attempt to hurt the 23 year old, Rossi has nevertheless been told to report his movements and is being advised on security by members of the military police force in Pesaro, who also will open any mail addressed to him.

In order to avoid giving the terrorist's the publicity they crave, Crash.net will avoid further specific reference to their organisation.