Multiple terrorist attacks have occurred in Greece.
Banned terrorist organizations
Nihilist Faction
The Nihilist Faction (Greek: Φράξια Μηδενιστών, romanized: Fraxia Midheniston) was a nihilist anarchist organization in Greece, which claimed responsibility for a 28 May 1996 bombing of IBM offices in Athens. The attack caused extensive structural damage but no injuries.[1] The group was responsible for other attacks, primarily arson and fire bombing. The group was founded c. 1996.[2]
Revolutionary People's Struggle (Greek: Επαναστατικός Λαϊκός Αγώνας (ΕΛΑ), romanized: Epanastatikos Laikos Agonas (ELA)) was a far-lefturban guerilla organization that operated between 1975 and 1995 before its members announcing its disbandment. It was the largest terrorist organization by number of group members in Greece.[3]
N17 was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975. The Greek government arrested many members of the 17 November organization in the summer of 2002. In 2003 15 members were found guilty of multiple murders and convicted for more than 2,500 crimes.[4]
The Revolutionary Struggle is a far-leftGreek paramilitary group known for its attacks on Greek government buildings. It is widely described as a terrorist organization by both the Greek government and the media.[5][6][7]
Revolutionary Nuclei (RN) was, anti-U.S., anti-NATO, and anti-European Union urban guerrilla organization that conducted 13 bomb attacks in Athens between 1996 and 2000. The first attack for which RN took credit was a bomb attack on Greek Coast Guard installations in Piraeus on 11 May 1997, but it later acknowledged that two earlier attacks were carried out by RN members. Per its four proclamations, RN fought against the "imperialist domination, exploitation, and oppression" of Greece.[8]
On 27 April 1999 an RN bomb targeting a conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Athens killed one person (Despite telephoned warnings, the building was not evacuated). In December 1999 RN set off explosives near Texaco's offices in Athens.[8]
The Revolutionary Self-Defense group claims to fight to "construct a mass internationalist revolutionary movement, by strengthening militant resistance on the entire spectrum of class antagonism".[9]
On November 10, 2016, a police officer, who had been on guard outside the embassy, was wounded when unknown assailants threw a hand grenade on the French embassy building, days later the group claimed responsibility for the attack.[10] Militants shot against members of the riot police when they are parked in the downtown in Athens, Greece. The incidents left no one injured.[11]
The group is suspected of a 2016 grenade attack the Russian embassy in Athens.[12]
Black Star
Black Star (also known as Mavro Asteri; Greek: Μαύρο Αστέρι) is a Greek anarchist urban guerrilla group involved in violentdirect action.
During the period between May 1999 and October 2002, Black Star was one of the most active anarchist groups in Greece.[13][14] They describe themselves as anti-imperialist, anti-establishment, and anti-capitalist. The group has declared itself to be dedicated to "resistance against the mass organizations of US imperialism and to their local collaborators."[15] They believe that "the only terrorists are the US imperialist forces, their European allies, and their local capitalist associates."[16]
At 16:00 (UTC+2), a bomb -- planted inside a car -- exploded in the parking area of the United States Embassy on Queen Sophia Avenue in Athens, killing a man and a woman. Neither of the casualties were Embassy personnel. The two victims were allegedly responsible for making and transporting the bomb.[17][18]
Five men in a stolen Simca followed Richard Welch, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Athens, home as he returned from a Christmas party. While two men covered his wife and driver, a third shot him dead with a .45 Colt M1911 pistol at close range.[23]
Pantelis Petrou, the deputy director of the Monades Apokatastasis Taksis (Riot police), was shot to death in an Athens suburb by three assailants using two 45mm pistols. A few days later Sotiris Stamoulis, his driver, also died from the wounds inflicted during the attack.[24]
Armenian gunmen attacked the Turkish Embassy Administrative Attaché, Galip Ozmen, and his family as they were waiting in their automobile at a traffic light. Mr. Ozmen and his fourteen-year-old daughter, Neslihan Ozmen, were killed. His wife, Sevil Ozmen, and his sixteen-year-old son, Kaan Ozmen, were seriously wounded but survived.[25]
George Tsantes, deputy chief of the U.S. military assistance mission (JUSMAGG), along with his driver Nick Veloutsos, were shot dead by two young people riding a motorcycle, using a .45 caliber pistol.[28]
British Cultural Attache and British Council representative Kenneth Whitty was killed in his car on an Athens street by a single gunman. His passenger, fellow British council employee Artemis Economidou, was seriously wounded and later succumbed to her injuries.[29][30]
Major Greek center-right press publisher and banker, Nikolaos Momferatos, was shot and killed by a gunman. His driver, Panagiotis Rousetis, also died in the attack in the Athens suburb of Kolonaki.[31]
On 15 May 1985 in Gyzi, near central Athens, three police officers investigating recent political murders detected a stolen motorcycle near Tsoutsouvis' apartment building. As they were investigating, Tsoutsouvis and an accomplice opened fire. Three police officers were killed in the exchange. Tsoutsouvis was also killed and his accomplice escaped.
A car-bomb explosion next to a Greek riot police bus in Kaisariani, Athens, kills police officer Ioannis Georgakopoulos and injures 14 more. The 17N proclamation states that the attack was made to avenge the death of 15-year-old Michalis Kaltezas during clashes at the day of the rally commemorating the public uprising that led to the fall of the Greek military junta.[32][33]
A car bomb, detonated by remote control, kills the US naval attache in Athens. Capt. William Nordeen was killed instantly by the blast that originated in a vehicle parked by his house.[34]
Three gunmen board the ship, City of Poros, as part of its normal intake of passengers at Aegina, and wait until the ship had left the port and is three miles into its journey before they attack, at approximately 20:30 (UTC+02:00). Using concealed automatic weapons and hand grenades, they opened fire on their fellow passengers, who scattered in panic, many jumping overboard, which inadvertently caused many casualties among people who became caught in the ship's propellers. Nine tourists are killed and up to 100 others are wounded. On the day of the attack, there were 471 people on board the ship.
Earlier on the day of the attack, the pier that the City of Poros usually berthed at in Piraeus was rocked by the detonation of a large car bomb. The only fatalities were the two occupants of the vehicle.[35][36][37]
Pavlos Bakoyannis, the spokes man of the leading political party at the time -- New Democracy -- is shot and killed in the hallway of his office in downtown Athens.[38]
United States Air Force member, Sgt. Ronald O. Stewart, is killed by a remotely detonated bomb outside his apartment in the seaside Athens suburb of Glyfada. Sgt. Stewart had been working at the United States Air Base at Hellenikon.[39]
A parcel bomb explodes in the offices of a courier service, killing seven people and wounding seven others in the western port city of Patras 1991 Patras bombing. Six of the dead were employees and the other a customer. The bombed building also housed offices of an American concern, United Parcel International, and is near the British Consulate.[40][41][42]
The Greek Minister of Finance, Ioannis Paleokrassas, narrowly escapes assassination when terrorists launch a 3.5 inch RPG round at his armored limousine in broad daylight. The attack, near the center of Athens, kills a bystander and injures 5 other people, including Minister Paleokrassas. The Minister had been driving out of his office accompanied by his wife and daughter.[43]
The former chairman of Greece's largest state-owned bank, Michalis Vranopoulos, is shot to death on an Athens street. He had been testifying in a judicial investigation into the bank's potentially fraudulent sale of a majority stake in a cement company.[44]
Deputy Chief of Mission at the Turkish Embassy in Athens, Ömer Haluk Sipahioğlu, is shot and killed on an Athens street. Authorities believe three men in a car pulled alongside the vehicle of the second-ranking Turkish diplomat in Greece and opened fire, killing him.[45][46]
Greek shipping tycoon, Constantine Peratikos, is shot to death in broad daylight on an Athens street. The group issued a manifesto claiming that Peratikos was targeted because he allegedly misused a large government bailout and threatened to close down his shipyard, which would have forced the layoff of 2,000 employees.[47]
At approximately 7:48 (UTC+2) two gunmen on a motorcycle shoot Brig. Stephen Saunders, the military attaché at the British Embassy in Athens, while he was driving alone on a busy suburban street to work at the British Embassy. The gunmen escaped in traffic. Brigadier Saunders died of his wounds at the hospital.[49][50][51]
Several gunmen shoot a 41-year-old anti-terrorism officer several times at close range. The officer died in his car as the assailants fled on motorcycles in the densely populated Patissia area of Athens.[52]
A bomb exploded outside an institute for training public officials in the Patissia area of the Greek capital Athens, killing a 15-year-old boy. The boy's 10-year-old sister was seriously injured and their mother, 45, was slightly hurt. Police said the family, were apparently just walking past the building when the bomb, contained in a bag, exploded.[57][58]
A powerful bomb sent in a package to the minister of public order explodes near his office, killing his 50-year-old assistant, who opened the package. The minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, who was in charge of the police and counter-terrorism as Minister of Public Order, Michalis was not in his office at the time.[59]
The Greek reporter and radio station news director Sokratis Giolias was shot by leftist urban guerrillas. Their weapons were matched to earlier shootings by the Sect of Revolutionaries.[60]
Deviant Conduct by the Spread of Revolutionary Terrorism
-- Political
Gunmen drove a van to the Microsoft offices in Marousi, Athens, the blast of the van caused significant material damage. The office, was closed for one day.[62][63] The attack was claimed by an unknown guerrilla organization naming themselves: Deviant Conduct by the Spread of Revolutionary Terrorism.[64]
On 4 July an office belonging to Fevronia Patrianakou, a member of the parliament was firebombed, causing material damages. "Zero Tolerance", claimed the attack, said Patrianakou, member of New Democracy is part of their campaign to punish those who are contributing to the strengthening of the Greek government.[65][66] Zero Tolerance is an anarchist cell that has perpetrated attacks in the metropolitan area of Athens.[67][68]
On 1 November 2013, two Golden Dawn members, Giorgos Fountoulis (27 years old) and Manos Kapelonis (22 years old), were shot dead outside the party's offices in Neo Irakleio, a northern suburb of Athens. A third one, Alexandros Gerontas, was severely injured. According to a Golden Dawn member, two men on a motorcycle wearing helmets fired into the group.[69][70] Two weeks later, the previously unknown "anti-establishment" group "The Fighting People's Revolutionary" Powers claimed responsibility for what it described characterized them as "political executions of the fascist members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party".[71]
On 14 January, members of Zero Tolerance firebombed the office of the Interior Minister, Yiannis Michelakis, leaving important material damage.[72][73]
The left-wing terrorist group threw a hand grenade, which failed to explode, at the headquarters of Skai TV station, in support for the left-wing terrorists Christodoulos Xiros and Nikos Maziotis.[74]
On 14 January, assailants blasts an office of Adonis Georgiadis a conservative Member of Parliament, which leaves material damages. Zero Tolerance claimed the attack in a statement and demanded the closure of "Type C" prisons.[75][76]
On 17 December a bomb exploded in the headquarters of the media station Skai TV. There were no casualties but extensive damage was done to the building. The left-wing terrorist group Popular Fighters Group was behind the attack.[77] The militant group has been behind similar bomb attacks against the downtown Athens headquarters of the Federation of Greek Industries in November 2015.[78]
A bomb exploded outside Ministry of Labour and a bank. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by a new organisation called 'Revolutionary Class Self-Defense'.[79]
^George Gilson (December 23, 2005). "Robin Hood terrorists". Athens News. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2007.
^Staff writers (24 January 1974). "2 Arabs Face Athens Court, Plead Guilty". Eugene Register-Guard. United Press International. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
^Staff writers (18 January 1980). "Riot Police Chief Killed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
^AP (August 1, 1980). "Turk Killed In Greece". Spokesman-Review. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
^Staff writer (22 July 1981). "Gunmen Slay Two In Greek Attack". Lodi News-Sentinel. United Press International. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
^Staff writers (27 September 1989). "Greek Party Spokesman Shot, Killed". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
^Staff writers (13 March 1991). "Blast In Greece Kills American". The Bryan Times. United Press International. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
^"Europe and Eurasia Overview". Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1997. United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
