Car bomb goes off in Athens

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EKAM - Greek anti-terrorist unit

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A car bomb exploded outside the offices of the Greek Land Registry in central Athens this evening. The device went off at 9.30pm near the headquarters of the police in the Greek capital and opposite the country's supreme court, Areios Pagos. At first there was confusion over whether the explosion was caused by a gas leak or a bomb, however, police reports now talk of a explosive device.

No casualties have been reported despite the size of the explosion and no organisation has yet claimed reponsibility. However, the choice of the Greek Land Registry as a target indicates that the armed group, Revolutionary Struggle (Epanastatikos Agonas) may be behind the latest incident. The publication of their latest announcement included mention of the leading government member who was involved in the Vatopedi monestary land swap scandal last year.

The placing of a bomb just 200 metres from the HQ of the Athens police days after the government had announced a series of tough anti - terrorism measures is likely to lead to political fallout for the embattled ruling New Democracy party.

In a separate incident yesterday a small improvised explosive device exploded outside the office of Kyriakos Mitsotakas, member of the government and son of former prime minister, Konstantionos Mitsotakis.

The latest attacks mark the resurgence of political violent sparked off by the riots and protests that followed the death of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos at the hands of the police in December. This is the third car bomb this year, the previous two were placed outside branches of Citibank in Athens.