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Gunmen attack Greek police station

Gunmen attacked a police station near Greece's capital early Tuesday, firing weapons and throwing a hand grenade, police said. No injuries were reported and authorities suspect the shooting may be the work of a domestic terrorist group.
Image: Police and army explosive experts check for evidence outside a police station in Athens
Police and army explosive experts check for evidence outside a police station in Korydallos suburb, west of Athens, on Tuesday, after an attack by gunmen.Yiorgos Karahalis / Reuters
/ Source: The Associated Press

Gunmen attacked a police station near Greece's capital early Tuesday, firing weapons and throwing a hand grenade, police said. No injuries were reported and authorities suspect the shooting may be the work of a domestic terrorist group.

Anti-terrorist police are investigating the pre-dawn attack in the Korydallos district of western Athens, police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said.

The shooting comes nearly a month after the domestic terrorist group Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for shooting and seriously wounding a riot policeman in the center of the capital in an attack against a police unit guarding the Culture Ministry.

Stathis said a local newspaper had received a claim of responsibility after Tuesday's attack.

"We are investigating this," Stathis said, adding that "given the timing of the call ... we cannot discount it." He did not say which group the caller claimed to represent, but Greek media said the telephone call claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of Revolutionary Struggle.

The group, whose previous attacks include the firing of a rocket-propelled grenade into the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2007, had issued a manifesto after the Jan. 4 shooting claiming responsibility for wounding the police officer. It had said it was carried out as a response to the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a policeman in Athens on Dec. 6 that sparked the worst riots Greece had seen in decades.

In Tuesday's shooting, at least three attackers wearing hoods and helmets opened fire on the Korydallos police station, aiming at the sentry's guard post outside, Stathis said. At least 10 shots were fired, and the attackers also threw a hand grenade that did not explode.

The policeman on sentry duty in the guard box fell to the floor as soon as he saw the muzzle flashes from the attackers' weapons and was not wounded, Stathis said.

He said authorities were conducting ballistics tests on the 9mm bullet casings found at the scene to determine whether they were a match for any of the automatic rifles that Revolutionary Struggle is known to use.

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