ATHENS — A powerful bomb blast in central Athens has sent shock waves across the country with authorities concerned about what they call a new era of terrorism.
Surveillance footage showed the powerful blast exploding in front of the nation’s Labor ministry, shattering its steel-and-glass façade and gutting offices as far up as the sixth floor.
Surrounding buildings were also scarred, and metal at a nearby construction site was mangled and melted.
There were no casualties in Saturday’s blast, but authorities said the fallout could have been bloody if the explosion had hit the Greek capital’s busiest boulevard, an area teeming with bars, coffee shops and restaurants, during business hours.
It was the first terrorist attack to mar the streets of Athens in five years, and Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoides said authorities are seriously concerned about the resurgence of terrorism.
Greece has seen hits like this in the past, and he said authorities will do everything to safeguard democracy and the country’s image.
The attack was claimed by a new urban guerilla group calling itself the Revolutionary Class Self-Defense.
Security experts suspect the new group includes militant recruits drafted by terrorists remaining at large after the country’s most deadly terror group was disbanded some 20 years ago.
Since then, several smaller groupings have emerged, staging sporadic low-grade attacks, but none of this intensity. At least 5 kilograms of explosives were used.
Stavros Balaskas, a police investigator, said counterterrorism officials were focusing on forensic evidence to track the culprit from a list of potential suspects.
Surveillance footage Balaskas says, shows a man making his way across the road to the ministry, hanging a sack of explosives on a steel railing and leaving.
Members of the group claimed responsibility in telephone calls to a local newspaper and television station 40 minutes ahead of the explosion.
Authorities expect the group will issue a proclamation to explain who they are and the reasons they targeted the Labor Ministry.
Until then, investigators warn, the fear of a follow-up hit, potentially with victims, looms.