Police worried by apparent change in strategy of anarchist groups.

Santiago came under attack again Tuesday when a bomb was left to detonate inside the Metropolitan Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas, a move that police said represented a worrying escalation in the anarchist campaign.

Photo by Jason Pearce/Flickr.

Although explosive devices have been found in public places at various times in the last five years, this bomb was bigger than previous instances – involving one kilo of gunpowder – and timed to go off in the day rather than at night like other attacks.

The target – churchgoers – is also new. Previously symbols of the state, or of capitalist enterprise, have been the subject of anarchist and subversive groups’ attentions.

And with a service planned for 7 p.m. when the device was set to go off, a police spokesperson told The Santiago Times that deaths could have ensued. This would have been the first time such a thing happened in Chile.

The spokesperson said that deaths could have resulted from the large size of the device. Anarchist and subversive groups were most likely to be responsible, he said, but there had been no phone calls either to claim responsibility or to warn the authorities beforehand, as is common in Europe.

The device, which comprised gunpowder and a clock mechanism, was hidden in a fire extinguisher and left in a ruck sack in the pews. An employee found it, carried it to a safer place and then called the police who quickly evacuated the area.

The device was later placed in a container specially-constructed to safely transport explosive devices and taken by the GOPE special police to their laboratories in Cerrillos.