Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ATHENS154
2009-02-03 16:03:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Athens
Cable title:
GREECE: NEW TERRORIST ATTACK ON POLICE
how-toVZCZCXRO1887 OO RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHTH #0154 0341603 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 031603Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3139 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000154
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC GR
SUBJECT: GREECE: NEW TERRORIST ATTACK ON POLICE
REF: ATHENS 54
Classified By: DCM Deborah McCarthy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000154
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC GR
SUBJECT: GREECE: NEW TERRORIST ATTACK ON POLICE
REF: ATHENS 54
Classified By: DCM Deborah McCarthy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
1. (U) At about 0400 local time on February 3, at least three
unidentified people reportedly threw a hand grenade and fired
more than nineteen rounds from a 9 mm sub-machine gun at the
police station in Korydallos, a western suburb of Athens.
The grenade -- reportedly manufactured in "an East European
country or Russia" -- did not go off, and no one was injured
in the attack. Initial investigation suggested the shooters
were targeting a Special Guard sentry and the station's
sergeant. Soon after the attack, a caller to a newspaper
claimed that the domestic terrorist group Revolutionary
Struggle (RS) was behind the attack, but many commentators
discounted this claim, noting it was inconsistent with the
group's usual practice of claiming responsibility in written
statements a number of days after attacks. Police were
rportedly investigating the possibility that the same gun
and type of grenade had been used in previous attacks.
2. (C) Comment: While the alleged RS telephone call claiming
responsibility is questionable, it is probable that RS is
behind this attack. If so, it would be the third such attack
on police by RS since December 23, and it would be consistent
with the group's January 15 declaration championing "armed
struggle" against police and the entire Greek political
system (reftel). RS may have concluded that killing a police
officer -- something it almost did in a January 5 attack and
easily could have done in this latest incident -- would serve
the group's purposes by ratcheting up the social pressure
that led to rioting following the death of a 15-year-old
student at the hands of police December 6. End Comment.
SPECKHARD
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC GR
SUBJECT: GREECE: NEW TERRORIST ATTACK ON POLICE
REF: ATHENS 54
Classified By: DCM Deborah McCarthy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
1. (U) At about 0400 local time on February 3, at least three
unidentified people reportedly threw a hand grenade and fired
more than nineteen rounds from a 9 mm sub-machine gun at the
police station in Korydallos, a western suburb of Athens.
The grenade -- reportedly manufactured in "an East European
country or Russia" -- did not go off, and no one was injured
in the attack. Initial investigation suggested the shooters
were targeting a Special Guard sentry and the station's
sergeant. Soon after the attack, a caller to a newspaper
claimed that the domestic terrorist group Revolutionary
Struggle (RS) was behind the attack, but many commentators
discounted this claim, noting it was inconsistent with the
group's usual practice of claiming responsibility in written
statements a number of days after attacks. Police were
rportedly investigating the possibility that the same gun
and type of grenade had been used in previous attacks.
2. (C) Comment: While the alleged RS telephone call claiming
responsibility is questionable, it is probable that RS is
behind this attack. If so, it would be the third such attack
on police by RS since December 23, and it would be consistent
with the group's January 15 declaration championing "armed
struggle" against police and the entire Greek political
system (reftel). RS may have concluded that killing a police
officer -- something it almost did in a January 5 attack and
easily could have done in this latest incident -- would serve
the group's purposes by ratcheting up the social pressure
that led to rioting following the death of a 15-year-old
student at the hands of police December 6. End Comment.
SPECKHARD