KANSAS MAIL CENTER INTERCEPTS 8TH BOMB IN 2 DAYS FROM EGYPT.

Byline: Neil A. Lewis The New York Times

The FBI began inquiries in Egypt on Friday as an eighth letter bomb, bearing an Alexandria, Egypt, postmark like the others, was discovered at a federal mail center outside Leavenworth, Kan.

FBI officials said that the latest device, which was intercepted before it could be delivered to the federal prison in Leavenworth, was similar in design to seven others discovered Thursday in Washington and in Leavenworth. So far, no one has been injured by the letter bombs.

The officials described the devices as thick white envelopes that looked as if they might contain Christmas greeting cards but instead held detonation mechanisms and flattened slabs of plastic explosive, probably a common one known as Semtex, officials said. All bore Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks and appeared to have been mailed Dec. 21.

Four of the devices intercepted Thursday were discovered at the Washington bureau of the Arabic language daily Al-Hayat in the National Press Building two blocks from the White House, while a fifth was found at a suburban mail center and was addressed to the newspaper.

Two others were discovered at the U.S. penitentiary in Leavenworth and were addressed to the Parole Officer. Officials said no such position exists at the penitentiary. All of the devices had the capacity to cause grave harm had they exploded, bureau officials said.

The FBI said an agent attached to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo had been dispatched Friday to Alexandria to begin trying to determine the origin of the letter bombs.

Lloyd said the bureau was devoting a wide range of resources to the investigation, although there was no indication yet who sent the letter bombs or why. Other federal law-enforcement officials said they were trying to determine what factors might link the newspaper and the prison.

Al-Hayat has been the forum for extended discussions about the wisdom of terrorist activities directed against the United States. Last year, it published exclusive interviews with at least two Middle Eastern terrorists, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Sheik Abdel-Omar Rahman, who are serving life sentences in federal prisons for their roles in assassination plots and the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric who was described as the inspiration for the plots, complained in a letter to Al-Hayat in April that he was being mistreated by prison authorities and called on his followers to avenge him.