You're reading: Italian hurt by letter bomb to party before vote

MILAN - An Italian postal worker suffered burns to his hands and face on Saturday when a letter bomb sent to the Northern League party exploded on the eve of regional elections which are likely to boost the anti-immigrant movement.

Police in Milan said the device that went off at a sorting office in the northern city was addressed to the offices of the Northern League and "was probably sent by an anarchist group", without giving more details.

Ansa news agency said police found a note accompanying the package that named Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a Northern League member who has pushed through tough laws cracking down on illegal immigrants. The Northern League, founded to win the independence of the region it calls "Padania" in the north of the country, is a coalition ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom but it could outperform the larger centre-right party in Sunday and Monday’s elections.

With 13 of Italy’s 20 regions up for grabs, and 40 million people eligible to vote, the vote is a major test for 73-year-old Berlusconi nearly two years into his third term.

The Northern League looks likely to boost its power in the ruling centre right by gaining ground in the rich north. Opinion polls suggest it could win the top job in the Veneto region and possibly Piedmont, and perform strongly in Lombardy.

Berlusconi, who wound up his campaign with an exhaustive series of television appearances and speeches on Friday, faced repeated questions about whether he was worried that League leader Umberto Bossi would be the big winner in the vote.

"I am not worried at all about Umberto Bossi," he said. (Reporting by Milan newsroom; writing by Stephen Brown; editing by David Stamp)