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Attackers on motorbike throw explosive at Russian consulate in Athens

Explosion 'probably' caused by hand grenade

Lefteris Papadimas
ATHENS
Friday 22 March 2019 07:30 EDT
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Forensic experts search the area outside the Russian consulate in Athens, Friday 22 March 2019. Police say a bomb disposal squad has been sent to the Russian consulate in Athens after cameras showed a suspicious object believed to be a hand grenade being thrown over the perimeter fence overnight.
Forensic experts search the area outside the Russian consulate in Athens, Friday 22 March 2019. Police say a bomb disposal squad has been sent to the Russian consulate in Athens after cameras showed a suspicious object believed to be a hand grenade being thrown over the perimeter fence overnight. ((AP Photo/Thanassis Stavakis))

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Attackers on a motorcycle threw an explosive device, possibly a hand grenade, at the Russian consulate in Athens early on Friday, police said.

“It was probably a hand grenade. No one was injured,” a police official told Reuters, adding that it was not a powerful explosion.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack on the consulate in the Athens suburb of Chalandri, where police cordoned off the area.

In 2016, a security guard was wounded in a similar incident at the French embassy in central Athens.

Athens sees rare dusting of snow as deadly winter weather continues to pummel Europe

Small-scale attacks on businesses, police, politicians and embassies are frequent in Greece, with its long history of political violence.

Reuters

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