Prison chief’s car targeted in blast that injures one
A time bomb detonated early yesterday under a car belonging to the governor of the capital’s high-security Korydallos Prison, Maria Stefi, destroying the vehicle – which had been parked close to the her home in Dafni, southern Athens – blowing out the windows of nearby houses and injuring a resident who was hit in the face by shards of glass.
The device, which police said comprised at least 1 kilogram of dynamite packed into a plastic tub, went off at 4.40 a.m. following two anonymous warning calls about half an hour earlier to the Zougla.gr news website and to ANT1 television channel.
Officials of the police’s anti-terrorism unit said they believed the perpetrators behind the attack had been monitoring Stefi’s movements for some time. They are thought to be sympathizers of the urban guerrilla group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, of which several suspected members are in pre-trial custody at Korydallos. Police believe the attack might have been carried out in protest at a recent spate of inspections on the cells of some of the suspects. One of the detainees, Costas Sakkas, has been on hunger strike since June 4 in protest at detention conditions.
There had been no claim of responsibility for the attack by late last night.
Proclamations released by Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire for attacks the group has claimed include explicit threats against prison wardens and the group claimed responsibility for a blast outside Korydallos Prison in May 2010 that injured one person.
Yesterday’s blast followed an explosion on Monday outside the office of the Justice Ministry’s general secretary for transparency, Giorgos Sourlas, on the fifth floor of an apartment block on central Michalakopoulou Street. That blast injured one person and caused significant damage.