Greek Cypriots behind raid on army outpost
Police in Cyprus yesterday were interviewing three former national guardsmen suspected of involvement in Saturday morning’s armed raid on a National Guard outpost from which weapons and ammunition were stolen. Cypriot Defense Ministry spokesman Andreas Yiorkas said yesterday that at least two of the three hooded men who attacked the guardroom near the village of Evrychou, some 40 kilometers west of Nicosia, were Greek Cypriots. The raid, which DISY party chairman Nikos Anastassiadis denounced as «a despicable act of high treason,» took place around 1.30 a.m. Brandishing a gun, the men immobilized the single sentry – who was away from his post, inside the guardroom – and forced the other guardsmen to enter the weapons storage area where they tied them up. Taking three G-3 semi-automatic rifles, a light machine gun, an anti-tank missile and unspecified quantities of ammunition, they escaped in a car. One of the three suspects – all who had served recently at the Evrychou outpost – is related to a convict serving a long sentence in a Limassol prison, reports from Cyprus said yesterday.
