NEWS

Wiring fault foiled car bomb

The 60-kilo car bomb left outside the offices of Citibank in Kifissia on Wednesday was intended to explode but did not because of a mistake in its wiring, police sources said yesterday. Forensic tests indicate that the bomb failed to explode despite the fact that most of the detonators were activated, which appears to dispel speculation that the device was not meant to go off. Although Revolutionary Struggle is suspected, no group has yet claimed responsibility for planting the bomb, which consisted of explosives that were packed in five propane gas canisters attached to two mechanical clocks, batteries and detonators. The explosives were made from a mixture of ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO), which is a common explosive used in mining and quarrying. But sources said that tests have revealed that the substance was made by the terrorists and did not come from an industrial source. Anti-terrorist squad officers had investigated the possibility that the ANFO was part of a batch stolen from a construction company in Grevena. But the tests carried out by forensic experts indicate the explosive was made with agricultural-grade ammonium nitrate, which is a widely used fertilizer that the terrorists purchased through regular channels. ANFO bombs have been used by various terrorist organizations in the past. This prompted PASOK MP Michalis Chrysochoidis, a former public order minister, to say that Athens was beginning to resemble the Afghan capital, Kabul. Government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros reacted by accusing the Socialist deputy of «danger-mongering» and trying to make political gain from the botched attack. Chrysochoidis responded to accusations he was damaging Greece’s image abroad by saying that the foreign media was already covering the story.

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