Files on past terror explosions scrutinized
Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis yesterday asked officers of the police’s counterterrorism unit and the National Intelligence Service to re-examine findings from bomb blasts in Athens over the past year in order to generate leads to the perpetrators behind an explosion outside Parliament on Saturday night. By late yesterday no one had claimed responsibility for the bomb that went off a few meters from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just before 8 p.m. on Saturday, causing minor damage but no injuries. Footage from security cameras operating in the area was being examined by police, though the facial features of individuals seen near the trash can where the bomb was planted were reportedly unclear. Although police suspicions initially had leaned toward Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, an increasingly active group that carried out a bomb attack on the offices of Greece’s largest insurance company on December 28, it is reportedly considered equally likely that the more established terror group Revolutionary Struggle was behind the blast. Even if the latter scenario is true, it is thought that members of the newer organization played a role in organizing the attack on Parliament. One ministry source spoke of a «phenomenon comparable to Germany’s Baader-Meinhof group whose members were carrying out terrorist attacks even though they were known to authorities.» Three suspected members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire have been in police custody since September and arrest warrants have been issued for another six.
