Tirana responds to twin terror bombings

Tirana responds to twin terror bombings

Bomb blasts in the Albanian capital are being seen as an attempt to undermine the country's anti-crime agenda.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Tuesday's terror attacks have not shaken the government's commitment to fight crime. [AFP]

Albania's capital was rocked before dawn on Tuesday (February 10th) by twin blasts targeting a minister's family and a senior police officer.

The first explosion struck a pharmacy owned by Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri's father, Bashkim. Soon after, another bomb detonated at the apartment of a police official. Security officers later defused a third explosive device in a bus station.

There were no casualties from the explosions, but there was considerable material damage and much more psychological damage.

"It's terror ? especially the bomb in the street without a clear objective," Fatos Klosi, the former head of Albanian intelligence, told SETimes. "Terror to create the psychosis of terror ? that is, to feed anti-government propaganda." The government will not kneel down to the violence, he said.

The bombings come amidst efforts by state police to improve the rule of law and fight organised crime.

"Saimir Tahiri is at the forefront of the state's fight against crime, and whoever ordered and executed the terror against his family must know it has given him and us all the more reason to live up to our duty," Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on his Facebook page.

All three explosive devices are being investigated under the same file. Under the penal code, they are considered acts of terrorism, according to Albi Serjani, a spokesperson for the Albanian Prosecutor's Office.

The head of the Albanian state police,...