Bomb Explodes Outside Athens Stock Exchange

A bomb damaged the Stock Exchange in Athens overnight, injuring one person slightly. The device, placed in a parked van, exploded at 5:35 a.m. local time today. Windows of nearby buildings were smashed and one woman was hurt by flying glass.

A phone call warning of the attack was made to the Eleftherotypia newspaper about 40 minutes before. Greece’s anti- terrorist unit is handling the investigation, police said. The stock markets of Greece and Cyprus will operate normally today despite the damage to the building.

“The investigation up until now points to Revolutionary Struggle,” police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said by telephone, though no one has so far claimed responsibility. The group said it carried out a January 2007 rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy.

Another explosive device went off at 4:55 a.m. behind the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second- biggest city, a police spokesman, who could not be identified by regulation, said. Damage was minor and there were no injuries, he said. The two incidents were probably not connected, Stathis said.

• "November 17, Revolutionary People’s Struggle", Council on Foreign Relations, 1/12/07.
• "Overview – Revolutionary Struggle", WordPress, 1/18/09.