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Group behind December blast outside Athens church warns of more violence

Group behind December blast outside Athens church warns of more violence

An anarchist group that calls itself the Iconoclastic Sect which claimed responsibility for last month’s bomb blast outside a central Athens church says it is part of a federation of eco-extremists.

In a statement titled Maldicion Eco-extremista (eco-extremist curse), posted on a Spanish website on Saturday, the group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the aim of the explosion was to cause the “greatest possible damage to a priest and/or to the herd of the faithful.”

Two people – a church caretaker and a policeman – were lightly injured in the explosion of a homemade device outside the Church of Aghios Dionysos on busy Skoufa Street on December 27.

The group said that it was only through sheer luck that the two people avoided more serious injuries or death as the blast was not as strong as they had hoped. It added, “We received our lesson for the next time.”

The post also revealed that the group was formed one year ago and was responsible for three acts of arson before it upgraded to explosives in the church attack.

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