A bomb exploded early Friday outside one of Greece’s main courthouses, causing material damage but no injuries, with police suspecting a far-left group of setting it off to protest property foreclosures sought by debt-laden banks.
The blast broke several windows and caused extensive damage to the court’s front entrance, where part of the first floor appears to have collapsed.
Windows at nearby buildings were also shattered. The attack took place just three blocks from the Athens police headquarters, yet the assailants were able to escape.
The bomb was inside a backpack left at the building’s entrance by two men who then fled in a small van, a police source told AFP.
When a guard inside the building ran towards them, a third person waiting in the van fired a shot at him, but the guard was not hurt, the police said.
It is believed that four people took part in the attack. Police suspect that a far-left group calling itself the Popular Fighters Squad (OLA), which carried out shooting attacks against the Israeli embassy in 2014 and the German ambassador’s residence in 2013, was behind Friday’s bombing.