Terrorists attack police station
Six policemen, two of whom remain in serious condition, were being treated in the hospital in Athens yesterday after gunmen fired almost 100 rounds at a police station in one of the city’s northeastern suburbs late on Tuesday night. In what is being treated as a terrorist attack, at least two gunmen opened fire on the Aghia Paraskevi Precinct after approaching the police station on a motorbike. It is thought that up to four other assailants on another two motorbikes blocked the road that runs in front of the station while the attack took place. Three suspect motorbikes were later found at the Halandri metro station, less than a kilometer from where the attack took place. Police said that the three motorbikes had been stolen in the days preceding the attack. Forensic experts collected 99 bullet casings from Kalashnikov assault rifles. A pin from a hand grenade was also discovered. It appears these weapons have not been used in any previous attack. As of last night, no group had claimed responsibility but it is suspected that either the Sect of Revolutionaries or Revolutionary Struggle were behind it. Of the six officers injured, four suffered slight wounds but two, including a trainee policewoman, were severely hurt and were in serious but stable condition in the hospital. «Greece will not become a state of fear,» said Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis. «Democracy cannot be terrorized.» The attack comes after a clampdown by authorities on the anarchist stronghold in the central Athens Exarchia district, the announcement of a 600,000-euro award for information leading to three suspected bank robbers with anarchist links and ahead of the appointment of a new police chief.
