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A bomb exploded in the building of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises on 5 Xenophontos Street near Syntagma Square. The bomb exploded at 3:35 am on Tuesday, causing serious damage to both the building of the Federation and of the surrounding buildings as well as to neighbouring hotel Amalia and the building of the Embassy of Cyprus. Many neighbourhoods of Athens heard the explosion that formed a crater in the ground.

 
40 minutes before the bomb exploded an anonymous person warned of the explosion by calling the newspaper To Vima and the Editors’ Newspaper that is known for its favourable attitude towards SYRIZA.

The police have cut off Xenophontos Street and Syntagma Square and closed Amalias and Filelinon Avenues. The tram stop in Syntagma Square is closed too. The fire brigade and sappers units are on the spot, as for some time there were concerns that a second bomb had been placed in the area.

No terrorist organization has yet assumed responsibility for the attack. This is the second attack against the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises; the first was in 2010 when the organization "Zero Tolerance" assumed responsibility for it.

According to the official announcement that the Greek police issued hours after the blast, "an unknown perpetrator(s) placed outside the main entrance of the building of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises a black backpack with a makeshift explosive of so far unknown composition, which detonated."

The announcement indicates that the explosion caused damage to the building of the Federation, to a petrol station located opposite it and to cars parked nearby, and broke the windows of the building of the Embassy of Cyprus and a nearby hotel. The preliminary investigation is being carried out by the office for combating terrorism of the Greek police.

To be continued