MADRID, Spain – A small, rudimentary bomb exploded Tuesday outside the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona (search), injuring a policeman and killing a bomb-sniffing dog, the Italian Embassy said.
A police official in Spain's (search) second-largest city said the blast did not appear to be a terrorist attack. Embassy spokesman Filipo La Rosa said it was too early to say.
La Rosa said staff at the institute called police when they arrived for work Tuesday morning and found a suspicious object — a metal coffee pot with wires sticking out of it — on the steps leading into the building.
The explosion occurred while police bomb-disposal experts with a bomb-sniffing dog on a long leash were examining the device, he said.
La Rosa described the explosion as small but said he had no details on damage. He said it happened between 8 and 8:15 a.m. He said the policeman was injured and the dog was killed.
"At this point I can't tell you, nor do we think it would be responsible to say it was a terrorist attack," La Rosa said. "I can't say I rule it out or don't rule it out because for the time being we don't have information."
Spanish National Radio said the policeman was only slightly injured.
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