Bomb threat at Italian tax office

Police received a bomb threat Monday for an internal revenue office in the southern Italian city of Bari. Police said the threat came from a male voice using a local payphone which investigators were able to pinpoint and sweep for fingerprints. It was unknown whether the bomb, which the caller said was timed to go off at noon, was a dud or if the threat was a hoax. Tax offices have been the subject of criticism, threats and attacks since Italy adopted sweeping austerity measures late last year to help put public finances back in order amid the global economic crisis. A parcel bomb with no fuze was sent to the head offices of tax-collecting service Equitalia in Rome on Friday, the same location where a letter bomb exploded in December, injuring the managing director. Earlier this month a man took hostages at gunpoint inside a tax office near Bergamo.