A parcel bomb burst into flames at the Swiss embassy in Athens yesterday and controlled explosions were carried out on packages at the Russian and Bulgarian embassies and outside parliament, Greek police said, a day after intercepting several similar packages.
Police said a total of five parcel bombs had been discovered in the capital yesterday, just days before local elections, following similar packages addressed to three other embassies and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday.
No one was injured, although an employee at the Swiss embassy had a narrow escape when a suspect parcel ignited, a police source said.
PHOTO: EPA
Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the device had been left at the entrance to the embassy and burst into flames when it was being checked by staff.
“The burst of flame occurred when employees were removing the external wrapping of the package. At no moment was there an explosion,” the ministry said.
In Sofia, Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said the package discovered at its embassy had raised suspicions when it set off a metal detector.
“The actual sender of the package is yet unknown,” the ministry said.
Swiss embassy staff had also detected metal in the package sent there, Geneva said.
The parcel found outside the Greek parliament was addressed to the Chilean embassy, while one found at a courier company was addressed to the German embassy.
The parcel-bombing campaign comes ahead of local elections on Sunday and during a period of social malaise after deep austerity measures adopted by the Socialist government to battle an unprecedented debt crisis.
Greek government spokesman George Petalotis condemned “those who try in vain to terrorize and disturb the public tranquility.”
Police arrested two men suspected of links to a far-left group on Monday after the discovery of several booby-trapped packages, including one addressed to the French president.
The alert was raised on Monday when a package mailed to the Mexican embassy detonated inside a courier company office, burning the hand of a female employee.
Police then announced they had intercepted other packages addressed to the Dutch and Belgian embassies, as well as the one to Sarkozy.
The two men arrested on Monday, aged 22 and 24, were armed with Glock handguns. One of them was also wearing a bulletproof jacket and a wig.
The 22-year-old had been wanted by police as a suspected member of Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, a far-left group that appeared in 2008 and has authored a wave of arson and minor bomb attacks against the offices and homes of politicians.
Attacks on government and police targets are commonplace in Greece and are usually attributed to left-wing extremists. However, they are usually designed to avoid causing injury.
“The prime suspects would have to be the anarchists or far left as usual,” said David Lea, a Control Risks Western Europe analyst.
“If this is it, the story will fade but if there’s another flurry tomorrow it’s a different matter,” he said.
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