Anastasia Balezdrova
A powerful explosion shook the centre of Athens a little after 08:20 this morning. Bomb placed in the trunk of a motorcycle exploded in front of the Administrative Court in Ambelokipi neighbourhood.
A strange man called ALTER TV about an hour earlier and warned that a bomb is expected to explode after 40 minutes. Then followed a second anonymous call in the head office of Eleftherotypia newspaper in which the unknown man specified the brand, the colour, the registration number of the motorcycle and where it was parked. According to information published in the online edition of the newspaper, the unknown man said that he was not joking and described the explosive power, stressing that not only the people in the Administrative Court should be evacuated but also the patients of the nearby clinic.
Police forces, ambulances and fire trucks were sent on the spot immediately. The police had enough time to evacuate the staff and the people from the building, so it is believed that those who put the bomb did not want to cause casualties. They announced from the police shortly after that the motorcycle was stolen yesterday night from the nearby neighbourhood of Galatsi.
The sound of the blast was so powerful it was heard at least several kilometers away. A huge cloud of smoke visible from far away covered the area. All windows on the facade of the Administrative Court and the windows of buildings and shops located in the vicinity of the blast were broken. Cars parked on the street were on fire and burned completely. The blast’s shockwave was so powerful that some of them turned turtle several meters away.
"There was a very loud bang and all the windows on the balcony, which overlook the courthouse, broke. I thought at first that the water heater shot," told an elderly woman for GRReporter.
The owners of a bookshop located not more than 200 meters away from the court told that they arrived about ten minutes after the explosion and found two of the display windows broken.
The police closed off the area and anti-terror officials held an investigation. The firefighters extinguished the burning cars and began removing the broken windows of the court to prevent the risk of injury. Shop owners started to sweep what was left of their broken windows too.
The police began to describe the damage to citizens to be paid compensations. Two hours after the explosions of the improvised clockwork a group of employees of the Administrative Court was selected in the presence of the Minister of Justice Harris Kastanidis to enter the building to take out the folders of judicial proceedings.
Anti-terror officials investigate the information a witness gave on the people who parked the motorcycle with the bomb in front of the courthouse. A man who introduced himself as a reserve officer called the Sky TV head office at 06:30 this morning. He said he saw two men dressed in police uniforms and equipped with weapons to park a motorcycle in front of the Administrative Court. The motorcycle was white and looked like those the DIAS police group use to patrol the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki. When he asked why they left the motorcycle there, they replied that it was broken. There was another man nearby waiting for them in a white van with which they left the area.
It is believed that the perpetrators have placed the explosive device in a box like those used by courier companies and then put it in the stolen motorcycle. The connection mode with the explosive mechanism has not been announced yet. Officers believe that the perpetrators used about 40 kg of explosive of ANFO and TNT mixture, having in mind the fire and the smoke, and the significant property damage.
The police assume the authors of the bomb attack today are five members of the terrorist group Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, some of which are wanted. They say from the police that they have previously collaborated with members of the organization Revolutionary Struggle, which are already captured.
Furthermore, the Revolutionary Struggle used the same type of explosive in bombing of the Athens Stock Exchange as well as in the attempted bombing of the branch of Citibank in September 2009. Today's explosion is very similar to the bombings of the organization against the Ministry of Labour on June 2, 2005, on Syntagma Square on December 12, 2005, and to the bomb placed near the house of the then Minister of Public Order George Voulgarakis. The bombs in all these attacks were placed on motorcycles and bicycles respectively.
Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei used ANFO in four attacks in the period 2009-2010. Quantities of the two explosives were found in the hiding places of the two terrorist groups.
We recall that in its last manifesto of November 25 the terrorist organization Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei called anarchists to carry out various attacks, including against courthouses and activists, in solidarity to its captured members that will face the court on January 17, 2011.
Improvised bombs exploded in front of the building of the Greek Embassy in Buenos Aires. The explosion caused only minor damage.
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