ATHENS, May 30 AFP - Greek officials insisted todaythere was no cause for alarm after a home-made bomb wentoff in a court building in the central city of Larissa,causing slight injuries to a passer-by in the streetoutside.
Investigators said a device linked to a timer explodedon the fourth floor of the court building, wherelawyers’ offices are located, yesterday evening.
A woman walking in the street near the building whenthe bomb went off suffered minor injuries from flyingglass, according to the Athens press agency, ANA.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack andpolice said there was no warning.
Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis sought toplay down the significance of the attack, the latest ina series which has raised fears for the upcoming OlympicGames in the capital Athens.
The Larissa attack gave no reason for any particularworry,'' Voulgarakis told reporters. Athens has been hit by a string of low-level bombingsin the past weeks that have raised security fears lessthan three months before the start of the Games, thefirst summer Olympics to be held since the attacks ofSeptember 11, 2001 in the United States. However, Greek officials have described the blasts aspart of a long-running campaign by violent politicalgroups, including a far-left organisation calledNovember 17, and said they have no connection to theOlympics. According to Greek media, high-security cells arecurrently being built at Larissa's prison before theexpected transfer of 14 members of the November 17 groupwho have been jailed for a string of assassinationsstretching over 15 years. Convicted members of the group have denounced the newprison facilities being built at Larissa as a GreekGuantanamo,’’ a reference to the US military base inCuba where people detained in the so-called ``war onterror’’ are being held without trial or access tolawyers.
Fourteen members of November 17 were arrested in 2002and then sentenced to long prison terms for the killingsof 23 Greek and foreign officials between 1975 and 2000.
They are currently being held at Athens’ high-securityKorydallos prison, but are reportedly due to betransferred to the new cells at Larissa.
Twelve of the 14 group members currently in jailprotested in January against their planned transfer toLarissa.