A bomb exploded outside the offices of the Greek Federation of Enterprises (SEV) at 3:35 early on Tuesday near Syntagma Square in central Athens. The explosion caused material damage but no injuries. Prior to the explosion there was a warning phone call to newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton. An anonymous caller warned of the explosion half an hour earlier.
The device was triggered by a timer and placed in a backpack near the entrance of the SEV.
According to Greek media, there was no security guard and the SEV is opposite of the Embassy of Cyprus.
The explosion smashed windows at the SEV, the embassy of Cyprus, a hotel at the corner of the street and a parking house in the opposite.
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According to Mega TV the anonymous caller called at two newspapers (EfSyn, Labrakis Group) stressing that it was not a “farce’ and that the bomb would explode 40 minutes later. Police was mobilized and rushed to SEV thus cordoning the area. It is not clear whether police had located the bomb in advance or not.
Police cordoned off a two-block area surrounding the building and bomb disposal squads were examining the scene.
The Tram traffic was disturbed, Metro station at Syntagma was – and probably is still – close.
According to Proto Thema, SEV was targeted by a guerrilla group called “Zero Tolerance” back in 2010 and that “the group has triggered 19 attacks in 4.5 years.”
Reuters notes, that the blast, “which police believe was carried out by domestic guerrilla groups, is the first such attack since leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras came to power in January.
Makeshift bomb and arson attacks have escalated in Greece since 2010, when it first adopted unpopular austerity measures such as tax rises, wage and pension cuts in exchange for multi-billion euro bailouts by the European Union and the IMF. In July, Athens agreed to further rounds of austerity under its third bailout.”
So far there has been no claim of responsibility.
