Rome suspected bomb could not explode: police

Source: Reuters.com

Carabinieri carry equipments outside the underground train station where an explosive device was found, in Rome, December 21, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi

ROME | Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:55am EST

ROME (Reuters) - A suspected explosive device found in an empty underground train carriage in Rome Tuesday could not have blown up because it lacked a detonator, police said.    Earlier, Rome transport authority ATAC had said the device, described by police as rudimentary, could have exploded.
"It didn't have a detonator, it couldn't explode," a spokesman for the Carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police force, told Reuters by telephone.
He said it contained a small quantity of explosive powder.
(Reporting by Roberto Landucci)