Greek Police Tackle Barrage of Parcel Bombs in Athens
France's president Nicolas Sarkozy
Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
The two bombs were addressed to the Belgian embassy and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens-based headquarters of the Greek Police..
The two bombs were addressed to the Belgian embassy and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens-based headquarters of the Greek Police.. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
Greek police said small parcel bombs exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens and at least another three packages addressed to foreign missions in the capital were disarmed. No injuries or damage were reported.
Two makeshift explosive devices have been defused by police at Athens International Airport, a police spokeswoman said in a statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was sent a package mailed from Greece two days ago containing a bomb, the German government said. If the explosive is “the same type of device as the package bombs in Athens, it could have caused not inconsiderable damage,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. Merkel was on a trip to Belgium at the time.
A small-scale explosion at the Swiss embassy in the central Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki occurred after employees detected a suspicious package, the police said in an e-mailed statement. The package caused a fire but no explosion or injuries, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a separate e-mailed statement. Another small blast occurred at the Russian embassy, the police said.
Bomb squads detonated suspicious packages near Parliament in Athens intended for the Chilean embassy, and another at the Bulgarian embassy as well as one at a courier company that was addressed to the German embassy, according to police. A suspected parcel bomb at the Panamanamian embassy was investigated, according to police. Another alert was sounded in parliament after a suspicious package was sent to former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, according to the Athens News Agency.
“Such appalling, unacceptable acts are condemned by the entire Greek people,” Parliament Speaker Filipos Petsalnikos said in an e-mailed statement. “Democracy cannot be terrorized.”
Men Arrested
Greek police were on alert for parcel bombs after one exploded at a courier company in the Athens neighborhood of Pangrati, injuring an employee, and another three were detected in central Athens yesterday. Two men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested after being found with two parcel bombs addressed to the Belgian embassy in Greece and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two were carrying two pistols, ammunition, wearing bullet-proof vests and wigs.
No claim of responsibility has been received for the attacks. A 22-year-old suspect is wanted for participation in the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire urban guerrilla group, the police statement said yesterday. Ballistics tests on the Glock guns have shown they weren’t used in terror attacks claimed by the Revolutionary Sect group, which killed a journalist in Athens earlier this year and a police officer last year.
On June 24, a security guard was killed by a parcel bomb at the country’s police ministry in Athens. The bomb was intended for the Minister of Citizen Protection.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Petrakis at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net
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