Bomb targets Immigration Office in Athens

from kathimerini The remains of a bus stop lie around the collapsed perimeter wall of the Athens Aliens Bureau following the explosion of a homemade bomb there on Saturday afternoon. The blast, which had not been claimed by any organization by late last night, caused widespread damage, including a 1.5-meter crater in the ground, but no injuries. A powerful homemade bomb detonated outside the building housing the Athens Aliens Bureau on Petrou Ralli Street on Saturday afternoon, causing damage but no injuries. Police cordoned off the area after an anonymous caller phoned in warnings to Eleftherotypia newspaper and Alter private television channel at around 3.30 p.m, warning that a bomb would go off at the bureau’s premises. The blast occured 15 minutes later, damaging the wall and fence around the building, a bus shelter and nearby shop windows and leaving a crater some 1.5 meter deep in the ground. According to police forensic experts, who were examining the remnants of the device for leads to the perpetrators, the bomb had been placed in a plastic bag near the bus shelter. Earlier on Saturday, a bomb exploded outside the home of a Pakistani community leader in the run-down district of Aghios Panteleimonas, near the city center, which has a burgeoning population of immigrants. The blast caused no injuries. There had been no claim of responsibility for either of the attacks by late yesterday. The blasts came just one day after a powerful time bomb detonated outside the central Athens offices of the extreme-right Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) organization, causing significant damage but no injuries. An unidentified caller telephoned Eleftherotypia 25 minutes before the blast, prompting police to evacuate the building, which is on busy Socratous Street, near Omonia Square, as well as a neighboring hotel and surrounding roads. There had been no claim for the attack on the Chryssi Avgi offices by late last night.