Greek police are investigating a failed bomb attack at Citibank's headquarters in Athens today, hours after gunmen shot at a television station in what appeared to be the latest outbreak of left-wing violence.
Police carried out a controlled explosion on a car left in the car park of Citibank's offices. The car contained a home-made explosive device. The timer had failed. Police were alerted by a security guard who spotted three men breaking into the car park.
The anti-terrorist squad is investigating links to militant groups which have launched a wave of attacks since the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy in December sparked Greece's worst riots in decades and rocked the fragile conservative government.
"It is the first time such a device is used in Greece," said a police official who declined to be named. "It seems a part of it was missing and this may explain why it did not go off immediately."
Late yesterday, two hooded gunmen fired dozens of shots outside a Greek TV station in southwestern Athens, without causing injuries.
"This attack ... is a criminal act against information, peace, security and of course democracy itself," government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting but police said the weapons used where similar to those employed three weeks ago in a police station attack claimed by a previously unknown group called Rebels Sect.
Last week, unknown arsonists targeted the offices of Greece's anti-terrorism prosecutor, a former minister and a Supreme Court magistrate, causing only minor damage.
Reuters