Pipe Bombs Explode in Mailboxes

Six pipe bombs, placed in mailboxes along with an antigovernment letter exploded in rural communities in Illinois and Iowa Friday, injuring six people, authorities said.

The bombs were each set to go off when the door to the mailbox was opened, U.S. Postal Service and law enforcement officials said. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

“We are reviewing this as a domestic terrorism incident,” said FBI spokesman James Bogner. “We don’t know if all the devices have been found or if there are devices remaining....We probably won’t know for a while.”

As word of the bombings and the letter, signed by “Someone Who Cares,” began spreading later in the day, local postal and police officials implored residents not to open their mailboxes and pulled mail carriers off their routes. Mail delivery was suspended through the weekend.

“I don’t want kids getting off the bus and opening the mailbox, or people coming home from work and opening their mailbox,” said Carroll County, Ill., Sheriff Rod A. Herrick. “Don’t touch your mailbox until further notice.”

Eight devices were found, including the six that detonated. All the bombs appeared similar in design and were battery-powered, authorities said. Each bomb was accompanied by a single-spaced, typewritten letter in a plastic bag, with a rambling, antigovernment manifesto warning that “more ‘attention getters’ are on the way.”

“Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask?” the letter began. “Attention people. You do things because you can and want (desire) to. If the government controls what you want to do, they control what you can do.”

Later in the note, it said: “Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives. When 1% of the nation controls 99% of the nations [sic] total wealth, is it a wonder why there are control problems?”

The final paragraphs read: “If I could, I would change only one person, unfortunately the resources are not accessible. It seems killing a single famous person would get the same media attention as killing numerous un-famous humans. There is less risk of being detained, associated with dismissing certain people.”

After signing off as “Someone Who Cares,” the writer added: “P.S., more info. will be delivered to various locations around the country.”

The first bomb appears to have gone off in Mount Carroll, Ill., in the northwest corner of the state, 140 miles northwest of Chicago, said post office Vice President Azeezaly Jaffer. About 11 a.m., a letter carrier opened a mailbox, apparently triggering the explosion.

The chronology of the other explosions is unclear, but bombs went off in Morrison, Ill., 20 miles away; Asbury, Iowa; Tipton, Iowa; and Elizabeth, Ill. The longest distance between any of the towns is 78 miles, between Asbury and Tipton.