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Blast rips through US embassy
12/01/2007 08:09 - (SA)
Athens - An explosion ripped through the
US embassy compound in central Athens on Friday but no one was
hurt, a US embassy spokesperson said.
Greek anti-terrorist officers were on the scene and
investigating. It was not clear what caused the blast.
"There are no injuries from the blast. The investigation of
the cause is continuing," the US embassy spokesperson said.
"We are investigating the cause of the explosion. We are not
ruling anything out," a senior police official told Reuters.
Dozens of police cars surrounded the embassy and police
cordoned off all roads in the area, including a major boulevard
in front of the mission.
"Police have cut off all traffic. I am standing right here
but there does not seem to be any damage. Greece's anti-terror
squad are now investigating inside the embassy," a US embassy
employee at the scene said.
The senior police official did not say whether the explosion
was set off inside the compound or whether something might have
been thrown into the embassy grounds.
Police officials at the scene said that whatever caused the
explosion damaged the official embassy sign outside the mission,
but there was little other indication of the extent of damage
inside.
The tightly guarded building is surrounded by a three-metre
high steel fence. Guards are posted at every entrance
and at street corners around it.
Embassy officials could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Local residents called in to state television saying they
had felt the explosion, which shattered some windows.
Greece's biggest domestic security threat, the leftist
November 17 guerrilla group, which had in the past killed US
and other foreign diplomats in Greece, was dismantled in 2002.
In November last year, Greek riot police fired tear gas to
disperse demonstrators marching to the US embassy in Athens
who chanted slogans including "Bush the butcher, out of Iraq"
and "The USA is the real terrorist".
In February 1996, unidentified assailants fired a rocket at
the US embassy compound in Athens, causing minor damage to
three diplomatic vehicles and some surrounding buildings.
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