Police detonate bomb sent to Greek Finance Ministry

Mar 23, 2011, 16:43 GMT

Athens - Greek police carried out a controlled explosion of a bomb that was sent to the Finance Ministry in Athens, reports said Wednesday.

An unidentified individual made a call to police saying that the time-bomb, which contained 2 kilograms of dynamite, would go off in a corridor of a tax office in the central Athens neighborhood of Neos Kosmos.

No injuries were caused by the explosion.

A group of militant left-wing anarchists has claimed responsibility for a number of parcel bombs sent in November to embassies, government buildings and the homes of Greek politicians.

The trial of 13 people allegedly involved in such attacks is still underway. The defendants, all in their early 20s, are members of the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei. Four others are to be tried in absentia.

They face a maximum of 25 years in prison if found guilty.

Separately, Greek police recently arrested several suspect extremists of the far-left organization Revolutionary Struggle.

Revolutionary Struggle has been active since 2003 and has carried out more than a dozen attacks, including a rocket strike against the US embassy in Athens three years ago and a bomb attack on the Athens Stock Exchange last year.

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