Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
---|---|---|---|
09ATHENS215 | 2009-02-19 09:49:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Athens |
VZCZCXRO6508 OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHTH #0215 0500949 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 190949Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3240 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE |
UNCLAS ATHENS 000215 |
1. (SBU) There have been several significant new attacks in Athens in recent days, including a shooting attack on a television station, a bomb placed outside offices of Citibank, and a series of bombings targeting prominent anti-terrorism figures. While no one was killed in these incidents, they are a significant step up the escalatory ladder from the usual arson and Molotov cocktail attacks perpetrated by extremist groups in Greece. They also build on an earlier round of serious attacks on police by the terrorist organization Revolutionary Struggle and a possible new organization called Sect of Revolutionaries. End Summary. A Spate of Attacks -------------------------- 2. (U) The most recent incident occurred at 0640 local time February 18, when police conducted a controlled remote detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) found inside a car parked in front of the branch offices of Citibank in the Athens suburb of Kifissia. Police had reportedly been informed by a private security guard who saw the car being parked outside the bank. The IED consisted of about 60 kg of an ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosive substance and propane containers. The IED was placed inside the trunk of the vehicle, which was reportedly stolen. This is the first time such a "fertilizer bomb" has been used in Greece. 3. (U) At approximately 1915 on February 17, four persons fired at vehicles parked at the Alter TV station in the Bournazi area in greater Athens. The assailants arrived on two motorcycles and fired at the vehicles parked near the rear side of the station next to the employees' entrance. Police found 12 cartridges at the scene of the attack, 10 of which were 7.65 mm caliber and 2 of which were 9 mm. While fleeing the scene the attackers threw an IED that did not detonate. The attack took place 15 minutes before the station's main evening newscast. News reports claimed February 18 that police ballistics had determined the weapons were the same as those used in a recent attack claimed by Sect of Revolutionaries. 4. (U) In the early morning February 12, an IED went off outside the house of senior prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos, who is in charge of terrorism prosecutions, causing damage to the building but no injuries. This was one of nine simultaneous IED incidents, with other targets including opposition PASOK member Theodoros Pangalos, senior judge Vassilis Foukas, who was a prosecutor in the trial of the November 17 (17N) terrorist organization, a university criminology professor, the communist daily Rizospastis, and an attorney who represented the victims' families in 17N proceedings. The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei Athens-Thessaloniki claimed responsibility for these attacks and eight earlier ones in a statement published on an anarchist website February 14. Comment -------------------------- 5. (SBU) These latest attacks follow a series of shooting attacks on police in January by the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist organization (ref B) and a February 3 attack on a police station that was claimed by the previously unknown Sect of Revolutionaries (ref A). These and other Greek extremist groups have made no secret of their intention to increase attacks in order to build on the political environment that produced large-scale rioting following the police shooting of a teenager in early December. SPECKHARD |