An improvised petrol bomb exploded in a parking lot belonging to a bank on the eastern outskirts of Athens late on Saturday night, damaging around 80 cars. No one was injured in the attack, which took place just after 11.30 p.m.

The assailants, who eluded arrest, used an explosive device consisting of three gas canisters in their attack on the lot in Markopoulo which belongs to Piraeus Bank and is used for keeping vehicles repossessed by the bank, police said.

A large blaze caused by the blast was quickly extinguished by some 30 firefighters manning 10 fire engines.

Police said they were investigating the possibility of the attack being an act of revenge or being linked to the bank’s business. Officers did not comment on speculation that the attack may have been carried out by anarchists.

A string of firebomb attacks by anarchists expressing solidarity with convicted bank robber and anarchist Yiannis Dimitrakis, culminating last Thursday in two attacks on banks in central Athens, had prompted police to express fears of further similar attacks.