Far-left anarchist extremists are believed to be connected to the discovery of an explosive device at an Athens court complex this week in the latest act of violence attributed to far-left extremists in recent weeks.
The explosive device, which was allegedly placed in a plastic food container inside a backpack according to police, was discovered at around 2 am on Monday morning at the Evelpidon Street court complex in the centre of Athens.
Greek police discovered the explosive after they were tipped off by two local newspapers who had been told that the bomb was planted at the court complex and that it has 25 minutes before it would detonate, the newspaper Ekathimerini reports.
Police investigators are reportedly linking the discovery of the bomb to the bombing of a tax office in the Athens suburb of Maroussi in early July that saw far-left extremists take credit for the blast, claiming to have used two kilos (4.4 lbs) of explosives in the bombing.
Greek anti-terrorism investigators took over the investigation in the case as it was also noted that no warning was received prior to the bombing, unlike the warning recieved by the newspapers in Athens this week.
The bombing along with several other attacks in recent weeks are believed to be in retaliation for the imprisonment of anarchist extremist Yannis Michaelides, who is on an ongoing hunger strike after demanding to be released from prison after serving a part of his sentence for armed robbery and attempted murder.
More recently, anarchist extremists from the group “Thousands of Suns of the Night” took credit for the bombing and arson attack of the Real Media building in Athens that houses the Real News newspaper and the radio broadcaster Real Fm, also dedicating the attack to Yannis Michaelides in their post on the far-left Antifa-linked web platform IndyMedia.
While a worker at the building , a sound engineer, was treated for smoke inhalation due to the fire n the building, the extremists claimed their action was done in a way that mitigated the possibility of casualties.