Attack causes fire at bank
A caller claiming to be a member of the Revolutionary Nuclei organization called Alter television to say the group was responsible for a blast at a branch of the Commercial Bank (Emporiki) on the corner of Thivon and Saggariou streets, western Athens, early yesterday. Someone smashed the bank windows with rocks and threw petrol bombs into the bank at around 2 a.m., causing a fire that also seriously damaged a car parked outside the bank. On July 11, the bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion of a bomb outside the Alico insurance company in central Michalakopoulou Street. No group claimed responsibility for the blast, but the explosives used were similar to those used in other acts by Revolutionary Nuclei, raising fears of further such activity. The group first appeared in October 1996 with an attempt to blow up coast guard fuel storage tanks in Piraeus and was responsible for a blast at the Inter-Continental Hotel in 1999 in which a woman was killed.