Five parcel bomb false alarms have been reported since a 60-year-old man was maimed in Qormi when a package left on his doorstep exploded late last month.

It is not normal for so many suspected parcel bombs to be reported in such a short span of time, an army source said, even though the bomb disposal unit is called out regularly for what turn out to be hoaxes and false alarms.

The latest false alarm to follow the Qormi attack occurred yesterday when someone noticed a shoe box near the HSBC bank in Paola. After experts inspected it, it was found to contain nothing but a pair of old shoes. On December 22, the same day on which Philip Cini opened the parcel that blew off his left hand and left him with serious injuries to the left of his torso, an elderly woman found a box in a rubbish bin and raised the alarm. It turned out to be junk mail.

On Boxing Day, the authorities received a report about a suspicious package left outside Stella Maris College in Gżira, which turned out to be a bag of clothes.

A few days later, a family in Sliema alerted the bomb disposal unit after they received a package at home that also turned out to be harmless. And on New Year's Eve, a man in Għajnsielem called for help after he received a late gift from his son.

In the Qormi attack, the package received by Mr Cini was left on the doorstep and taken upstairs by his wife. When Mr Cini arrived home and unwrapped the parcel, he saw that inside was a hollowed out book that acted as a casing for a contraption with a battery pack and switch. The parcel blew up in his hands.

Mr Cini is still in critical condition and heavily sedated. Until he is out of sedation anything he says is inadmissible as evidence, police sources have said.

The army's advice to anyone finding a suspicious package is based on common sense.

One should ask around and see if anyone had seen the person who had left the package there and if no one knows anything about it, the emergency services should be called and the area evacuated until the authorities arrive, according to Major Jeffrey Curmi, who heads the bomb disposal unit.

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