Ultra-Leftists Behind Athens Bomb Attack

The ultra-leftist urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Nucleus seems to have been responsible for a powerful bomb attack near central Athens' Syndagma Square on 19 August. The group issued warnings to two newspapers minutes before the blast.

The device exploded at the entrance to the fifth-floor office of socialist parliamentary deputy Stelios Papathemelis, who was public order minister in 1993-95. No one was injured, but damage was reportedly heavy.

Security implications

Left-wing extremists stage occasional high-profile attacks, though the frequency and intensity of ultra-leftist attacks has decreased significantly since the late 1980s. Many attacks are small-scale and take place in the early hours of the morning to generate publicity rather than to cause injury to the general public. However, in May Greece's most active ultra-leftist group, 17 November, assassinated shipowner Constantine Peratikos in Athens' port of Piraeus, showing that ultra-leftists remain prepared to