Bomb explodes at Athens bourse, 1 woman hurt

[September 02, 2009]  ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A van bomb exploded outside the Athens Stock Exchange Wednesday, injuring a woman and causing extensive damage to the building in what police said was a coordinated double bombing that also targeted a government building in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Both attacks were preceded by anonymous warning calls to Greek media, but there was no claim of responsibility. Police said a Greek far-left militant group called Revolutionary Struggle, best known for firing a rocket at the U.S. embassy in Athens in 2007, was suspected in the stock exchange blast.

"The methodology points to Revolutionary Struggle," police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said.

The stock exchange issued a statement saying trading would go ahead normally, "despite the huge damage the explosion caused to the building."

The attack in Athens' central Votanikos district blew out windows at the stock exchange and a neighboring car dealership, and damaged parked cars and trees, police said. They said the bomb exploded at 5:38 a.m. (0238GMT), in a stolen van that had been parked on a side street outside the building.

A female cleaner working at a building on the other side of an eight-lane highway from the stock exchange was lightly injured by flying glass.

"The blast caused extensive damage, to the stock exchange building itself and to nearby cars, five of which were completely destroyed," Stathis said. He said it was not immediately clear how the bomb had been detonated or what explosives were used.

Police said the second bomb had been hidden in a telephone exchange box outside the Ministry for Macedonia and Thrace in Thessaloniki. They said the time device exploded at 4:56 a.m. (0256 GMT), breaking windows in the ministry building.

Greek militants have stepped up attacks following the fatal police shooting of an Athens teenager last December, which sparked the country's worst rioting in decades.

In the bloodiest incident so far, gunmen shot dead an anti-terrorist officer guarding a witness in Athens on June 17.

On July 4, terrorists targeted a McDonald's restaurant in central Athens, causing extensive damage but no injury. Although there has been no claim for that attack, police have said they suspect Revolutionary struggle

Small anarchist groups have also intensified arson attacks on symbols of wealth and state power, to protest government social and economic policies.

[Associated Press; By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS]

Associated Press writer Costas Kantouris contributed to this report from Thessaloniki.

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