Woman dies when a bomb she is carrying explodes in the Greek city of
Thessaloniki, police say
[May 03, 2025]
By COSTAS KANTOURIS
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A woman was killed early Saturday in the
northern Greek city of Thessaloniki when a bomb she was carrying
exploded in her hands, police said.
The 38-year-old woman apparently was carrying the bomb to place outside
a nearby bank around 5 a.m., police said.
Several storefronts and vehicles were damaged by the explosion.
Police said the woman, whom they did not publicly identify, had a
criminal record related to drugs and prostitution and had been involved
in at least one robbery and thefts in the past. The Greek police's
division for organized crime was investigating the incident, while
authorities were also investigating whether the woman might have had
ties to extreme leftist groups.
Greece has seen occasional bombings, as well as targeted killings,
attributed to various organized crime groups. The country also has a
long history of politically motivated violence dating back to the 1970s,
with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings that
usually cause some damage but rarely lead to injuries.
While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s, whose preferred
targets tended to be politicians, foreign businesses and diplomats, have
been dismantled, new small groups have emerged.
Last year, a man believed to have been trying to assemble a bomb was
killed when the device he was making exploded in a central Athens
apartment. A woman inside the apartment was severely injured. It was
unclear what their intended target might have been.
The blast had prompted Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis
Chrisochoidis to warn of an emerging new generation of domestic
extremists.
In April, a new group calling itself Revolutionary Class Struggle
claimed responsibility for a bomb that exploded in central Athens near
the offices of Hellenic Train, Greece's main railway services operator,
and the planting of another bomb near the Labor Ministry in early
February.
[to top of second column]
|
Greek police forensic experts search the spot where a 38-year-old
woman was killed early Saturday when a bomb she was carrying
exploded in her hands, local police said, in Thessaloniki, northern
Greece, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
The explosion near the train offices resulted in limited damage to
the building and no injuries. It had been preceded by an anonymous
call to local media 40 minutes before the blast warning about the
device, leading police to evacuate and cordon off the area.
The group that claimed responsibility said the bombing was part of
an armed struggle against the state.
The bombing at the train offices came shortly after the second
anniversary of Greece's worst railway disaster, in which 57 people
were killed and dozens more injured when a freight train and a
passenger train heading in opposite directions were accidentally put
on the same track.
The deadly accident sparked widespread anger and exposed severe
deficiencies in Greece’s railway system, including in safety
systems. Some of the relatives of the victims led mass protests
against the country’s conservative government on the occasion of the
accident’s second anniversary.
___
Demetris Nellas in Athens, Greece, and Elena Becatoros in Jerusalem
contributed.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
