- Title: GREECE: Police investigate Swiss embassy blast
- Date: 3rd November 2010
- Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (NOVEMBER 2, 2010) (REUTERS) STREET IN FRONT OF SWISS EMBASSY SWISS EMBASSY FLAG MEMBER OF COUNTER-TERRORISM SQUAD ENTERING EMBASSY MEMBER OF SQUAD TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS AROUND SITE VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF SQUAD INVESTIGATING AND GATHERING EVIDENCE MORE OF SQUAD SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE AROUND EMBASSY ATHENS COURT OF APPEAL EXTERIOR RIOT POLICE OFFICER ON G
- Embargoed: 18th November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA8LXGED0WJN71GWLQ4VIVKD7U0
- Story Text: Members of Greece's counter-terrorism squad were sifting through grounds of the Swiss embassy on Tuesday (November 2) after a bomb attack.
The unit gathered evidence from the scene as it investigated the attack.
Initial police reports said the explosion was small and no one was injured. Police closed off the area, located in an exclusive neighbourhood of the capital.
Police were also called to the Bulgarian embassy in a northern Athens suburb to detonate a bomb. Another controlled explosion was reported near the Chilean embassy but there was nothing suspect in the package, and yet another parcel bomb was detonated at another courier company, said to have been addressed to the German embassy.
The bombings come after four parcel bombs were found in Athens the day before, one of which exploded but caused minor injury to a clerk's hands.
Police arrested two men on suspicion of planting two of the parcel bombs while being in possession of the other two.
One parcel bomb addressed to the Mexican embassy exploded at a courier office on Monday (November 1), while another addressed to the Dutch embassy was detonated at another courier office. The other two parcel bombs were found in the two men's possession and detonated, and were addressed to the Belgian embassy and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Police suspect domestic militant groups for Monday's bombs, which they said were small and would not have caused life threatening damage. The two arrested men were aged 22 and 24.
One of suspects, wanted in relation with a previous bombing and for his connection to a local guerrilla group that has carried out previous attacks in Athens, was taken to the Athens Court of Appeal on Tuesday to face a prosecutor over those charges. His transfer took place under heavy police guard, with riot and counter terror police guarding the courthouse. Both men will later face a magistrate over the parcel bomb accusations, which they have not yet been charged for.
Domestic guerrilla groups have targeted banks, police and politicians in Athens with bombs in recent years. Two people have been killed in previous bomb attacks, one of them the aide to the Civil Protection Minister after it was delivered to the ministry.
The motives behind the parcel bombs are not yet clear or why the particular embassies were targeted. Greece holds local government elections on November 7. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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