Officials said that a bomb planted near the offices of Helic Train, the main railway company of Greece, exploded in a busy district of Central Athens on Friday night. There were no reports of injuries.
2023 Railway Disaster, the worst of Greece, in which 57 people were killed and a passenger train was accidentally put on the same track in opposite directions when dozens of people were killed and dozens of more injured.
Local media said that a newspaper and a news website received an anonymous call some time before Friday’s explosion, in which the caller warned that a bomb was installed outside the railway company offices and would explode within about 40 minutes.
In a statement, the Halenic train stated that the explosion was “very close to its central offices” and said the blast caused limited losses and no employee or passers -by hurt.
It said that the authorities had immediately worked on receiving information about the warning call, and the company was fully cooperating with the authorities and ensuring the safety of its employees.
Police closed the site with a major Avenue in the Greek capital, keeping residents and tourists away from the building several times and in a region with restaurants. Officials at the scene said that a bag with an explosive device was placed near the Helenic Train Building on Sinkreu Avenue.
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Police forensic experts were collecting evidence at the scene wearing white coverings.
The criticism of handling the government of a collision of February 28, 2023 in Tempe in Northern Greece has increased in the last few weeks in view of the second anniversary of the disaster, in which most young people were killed who were returning to university classes after public holidays.
‘It’s is Anger’: Large scale protests in Greece on Deadly Train Crash Anniversary
The accident highlighted serious deficiencies in Greece’s railway system, including security systems, and staged mass protests against the country’s orthodox government – led by relatives of the victims. Critics accused the authorities of taking political responsibility for the disaster or failing to make senior officials accountable.
So far, only railway officials have been accused of any crime. Many protests have become violent in recent weeks, protesters have confronts the police.
Earlier on Friday, a hot debate in Parliament on the railway accident had investigated the alleged violation of duty on their operations immediately after the accident to vote for the Judicial Officers to refer to the former cabinet minister.
The Halenic train said that it “unknowingly condemns every form of violence and stress that is triggering the atmosphere of poisoning that is reducing all progress.”
Greece has a long history of politically inspired violence in the 1970s, in which domestic extremist groups carried out small -scale bomb blasts, which usually cause damage but rarely cause injuries.
While the most active groups have been abolished in the 1980s and 1990s, new small groups have surfaced. Last year, a person believed that an explosive tool was exploding in a central Athens apartment when explosive equipment was trying to gather a bomb. A woman was seriously injured inside the apartment. The explosion inspired Civil Protection Minister Mishalis Chrisochoidis to warn an emerging new generation of domestic extremists.
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