Czas na Zywiec
05-05-2004, 01:37 AM
Greek capital hit by triple blast
A police station in the Greek capital Athens has been hit by three bomb explosions in quick succession.
Police said the blasts, which happened in the early hours of the morning, did not cause any major injuries.
The area had been cordoned off after an anonymous caller warned a newspaper about the bombs, a Greek official said.
The explosions came exactly 100 days before the city is due to host this year's summer Olympic Games, for which security has been a major concern.
"The first two explosions went off in a span of five minutes. The third exploded half an hour later as bomb experts were still looking for it," a police official told the Reuters news agency.
'Sophisticated'
He said an ambulance was called for one policeman slightly injured in the final blast.
"The police are treating this matter very seriously with only three months to go until the Games," the official said.
"You have three sophisticated time bombs going off outside a police station, that's serious enough for police."
The police station is in the central Athens area of Kalithea, where several hotels are due to be used by Olympic officials during the Games in August.
It is feared the huge profile of the event could make Athens a terrorist target.
These Games will be the first held since terror attacks from New York and Washington to Bali and Madrid.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has taken personal responsibility for preparation for the Games.
In the past radical left-wing and anarchist groups have planted bombs and carried out assassinations in Greece.
But these have become less frequent since a government crackdown on the November 17 cell, which resulted in 19 of its members being jailed last December.
However, the BBC's correspondent in Greece Richard Galpin says left-wing groups oppose the Games, viewing them as a capitalist bonanza, and protesting at Western security services arriving en masse in Greece.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3684967.stm
A police station in the Greek capital Athens has been hit by three bomb explosions in quick succession.
Police said the blasts, which happened in the early hours of the morning, did not cause any major injuries.
The area had been cordoned off after an anonymous caller warned a newspaper about the bombs, a Greek official said.
The explosions came exactly 100 days before the city is due to host this year's summer Olympic Games, for which security has been a major concern.
"The first two explosions went off in a span of five minutes. The third exploded half an hour later as bomb experts were still looking for it," a police official told the Reuters news agency.
'Sophisticated'
He said an ambulance was called for one policeman slightly injured in the final blast.
"The police are treating this matter very seriously with only three months to go until the Games," the official said.
"You have three sophisticated time bombs going off outside a police station, that's serious enough for police."
The police station is in the central Athens area of Kalithea, where several hotels are due to be used by Olympic officials during the Games in August.
It is feared the huge profile of the event could make Athens a terrorist target.
These Games will be the first held since terror attacks from New York and Washington to Bali and Madrid.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has taken personal responsibility for preparation for the Games.
In the past radical left-wing and anarchist groups have planted bombs and carried out assassinations in Greece.
But these have become less frequent since a government crackdown on the November 17 cell, which resulted in 19 of its members being jailed last December.
However, the BBC's correspondent in Greece Richard Galpin says left-wing groups oppose the Games, viewing them as a capitalist bonanza, and protesting at Western security services arriving en masse in Greece.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3684967.stm