Leftist group claims two Greek bomb attacks

A leftist urban guerrilla group said on Thursday it carried out a bomb attack in the Greek capital this week and another in March, saying it was protesting corruption and the killing of a teenager by police in December.

No one was hurt in either explosion, part of a string of anarchist and leftist attacks aimed at companies, police and public buildings since the death of the teenager triggered the worst riots in Greece in decades.

The group, which calls itself Popular Will, said in a pamphlet sent to Greek weekly To Pontiki newspaper it planted the time-bomb which exploded outside the Athens offices of an investment company in Athens on Wednesday, causing minor damage.

The little-known group also claimed responsibility for a bomb which rattled central Athens in March, causing serious damage to a state building and shops but no injuries.

"Undoubtedly the killing of the 15-year old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos roused the sleeping consciousness of the popular class," the group said in its statement, referring to the teenager shot by the police.

It also condemned official scandals and corruption, as well as measures taken to deal with a sharp economic decline.

Police were investigating the authenticity of the claim, said a police official who declined to be named.

There was no one in the building at the time of the explosion in the busy district of Kolonaki on Wednesday, as police had cordoned-off the area after receiving a warning call.

The March bomb exploded outside the building of an agency managing state property about 250 metres (yards) from Athens central police headquarters.

After sweeping to power in 2004 on pledges to clean up politics after decades of socialist scandals, the conservative New Democracy party has been rocked by scandals in its five years in power.

Earlier this month, the government narrowly escaped being forced to call an early election over a shipping scandal. Growing debt and deficits leave it little room for social relief measures during the crisis.