TA-ATTACKS: Bomb Blasts in Athens, Greece

Three pre-dawn timed bomb blasts, occuring in a span of 26 minutes, hit a police station in central Athens, Greece. The bombs are being described as "sophisticated." Police sources indicate that one officer was injured and that it does not appear there were any deaths. The building sustained massive damage.

Sky.com

An Athens newspaper received an anonymous tip before the explosions that bombs were planted at the Kalithea station, and police cordoned off the area in response. It is likely the casualty count would have been higher if people had not been evacuated.

An official spokesperson said, "The first two explosions went off in a span of five minutes. The third exploded half an hour later as bomb experts were still looking for it."

No group has claimed responsibility at this time.

The 2004 Summer Olympics, to be held in Athens, take place in exactly 100 days. Security in the Greek capital has been heightened as a result of the upcoming Games and fears that it will be a target for terrorist attacks.

Ceremonies were to be held celebrating the 100-day mark today. There is no word if the celebrations are still scheduled.

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Reuters


[Edited on 4-5-2004 by Banshee]

[Edited on 5-5-2004 by Valhall]

[Edited on 5-6-2004 by Valhall]

interesting the time an place, cant wait for more input! hope no one is hurt, my good vibes are being sent there.

Crap!

Just in time for the olympics...

Security is an issue... Lewis pleads for Athens security US sports legend Carl Lewis pleaded with US lawmakers to make sure security is given top priority at the Athens Olympics. But as the 100 day countdown to the Games starts amid suggestions of a possible US withdrawal from the games in August, top officials insisted it was important for the United States to be seen to be taking part. With mounting unrest in Iraq and the United States issuing regular terrorist alerts, Lewis, the winner of five Olympic gold medals, said US and international officials should do everything possible to guarantee top security. This story broke today and brings back memories of a troubling 60 Minutes piece on the problems Athens is having pulling things together at the last minute. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. update... Olympics is a tough call for Bush The dark clouds over Athens grew a little more threatening last week when Mark Spitz, the American swimming legend, told the BBC that terrorism concerns might prompt the US to withdraw from this summer's Olympics, due to begin in 100 days. The US Olympic Committee immediately issued a statement dismissing Spitz's speculation, but the denial - "Today there is absolutely no consideration given to the notion our team will not be in Athens" - left enough wiggle room to drive an entire fleet of 18-wheel trucks through. In fact, the wording of the statement, almost Clintonian in its calibration, would seem to suggest that a pull-out is indeed a possibility. [Edited on 4-5-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

Interesting, The Olympics are to be held there soon, could this be a test run?

I believe there is no doubt that Al-Qaeda is planning something in the form of terrorist attacks for Athens, but it is shocking that it would happen this soon before the olympics.

wow!

EDIT: added comments...

I was watching cable (I'm a news junkie) I have a big screen and all three major cable news networks live on split screens and, Guess what?... I got this news here at ATSNN first!

Gazz

[Edited on 4-5-2004 by UM_Gazz]

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
This story broke today and brings back memories of a troubling 60 Minutes piece on the problems Athens is having pulling things together at the last minute.

I saw the same 60 Minutes piece and I was just apalled at the lack of readiness displayed by Greece. It was a bad choice to put the olympics here and the security issues are an even greater concern.

The country has probably one of the most accesible borders on the earth, a pretty easy place for anyone to just waltz into.

I hope this isnt a sign of things to come.

the details of this should be interesting...let's see if they (Greece) tries to downplay it or if there is something more sinister to it....plus all this missing and stolen ammonium nitrate is pretty frightening. btw, if I was an olympic athelete, I would skip this year's olympics....Athens is definitely unprepared for anything of this magnitude.

Before any spurious connections are made...

My post that said "Watch Athens" a few hours ago, before the bomb blast, was not connected with the bomb blast, and not predicting it.

OK?

oh this is horrible... i really hope that nobody was hurt, but that may be a little too optimistic in terms of what happened.

i have to wonder what the motive was and who was behind this devious maneuver. also, how many times is the media going to ask "was al qaeda behind this?"

Just read no serious injuries on msnbc. That is good.

Ensuring terrorist events will not happen is not just a Greek Authority problem. I think no matter where the olympics are this year, the threat will be huge and probably will happen or will have been tried. (hopefully stopped successfully) It will not matter if it was in the US, England, china or greece. I am sure the greek authorities are working around the clock with agencies from all over the world to stop any threats.

Originally posted by AlnilamOmega
oh this is horrible... i really hope that nobody was hurt, but that may be a little too optimistic in terms of what happened.

i have to wonder what the motive was and who was behind this devious maneuver. also, how many times is the media going to ask "was al qaeda behind this?"

well for one there arent any local resistance groups capable of "sophisticated" explosives as greek authorities said, plus not many other groups around the world have the motive or capabilities as whoever did this, logic kind of points to a large group trained well in explosives who obviously play mind games like al qaeda.

I for one would not be upset at all if the US would keep it's athletes out of Greece. It may be self-defeating, and some may say that it would be considered a win for the terrorists, but our athletes lives are too valuable to risk. The fact that there are sick twists out there who would terrorize an event such as this which is intended to draw the world together is disgusting. These al Qaeda scum have a train wreck in their head.

Thankfully you can all relax guys. I was listening to my talkback radio station today, and one of the broadcasters there had a relative that lived nearby. They contacted him on air and he had quite abit of knowledge on the matter. The area where the explosions went of were a police complex, like a compound yard which is used to store illegal and unregistered cars and motorcycles. Aparantly there was a large amount of motorcycles were taken from a local gang of men, who were capable of preforming such a stunt. I totally beleive the guy, to me it just sounds like some thugs with thuggish minds who seem to get off on the idea of being able to jump on the bandwagon and look tough.

Fears have been running high that the games could be a target of political violence and security forces have been put on high alert.
"The first two explosions went off in a span of five minutes. The third exploded half an hour later as bomb experts were still looking for it," police said.

BBC

A police station in the Greek capital Athens has been hit by three bomb explosions exactly 100 days before the city is due to host the Olympic Games.
Police said the pre-dawn blasts caused damage and slightly injured an officer.

No group has yet claimed responsibility although correspondents say suspicion will fall on radical left-wing groups, which have carried out similar attacks.

Athens is hosting this year's summer Olympic Games in August, for which security has been a major concern.

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Im going to get Lynched for saying this now, but do you guys remember how John Titor said there would be no Olympic Games after 2004..



Who knows? Maybe the Greek Games will be a Blast Literally..

Yes, take a look at how USA's old buddies over in Afganistan, the Taliban, take a look at what they think about sports. Especially the sports the Olympic Games are reknown for. The only place you could hope to be safe during the Olympic Games, when people like Osama bin Laden and the reat of the Taliban type dudes are on the loose, would probably be in the archers' arena. The Greek 2004 Olympics seems like it needs more security than they can possibly promise. I certainly wouldn't go there. Prolly just get mugged anyway. And with a 99% certainty get atleast one misguided Muslim kiddo exploding all over my new shirt. I just don't have a heart or the sanity to play those roulettes. Just stay home, turn off the tellie, read a good book instead.

The motorcycle stunt does sound extremely probable...however I'm remembering the name of a rather notorious greek terrorist organization known as November 17. Leftist group, anti-capitalist, etc,

here's a link
cfrterrorism.org...

Originally posted by UM_Gazz
Interesting, The Olympics are to be held there soon, could this be a test run?

I believe there is no doubt that Al-Qaeda is planning something in the form of terrorist attacks for Athens, but it is shocking that it would happen this soon before the olympics.

wow!

EDIT: added comments...

I was watching cable (I'm a news junkie) I have a big screen and all three major cable news networks live on split screens and, Guess what?... I got this news here at ATSNN first!

Gazz

[Edited on 4-5-2004 by UM_Gazz]

UM_Gazz, this is off-topic but how do you manage a three-way split to a single monitor?

They are just prepping up for the actual Olympics.

Fear Tactics 1101.

I don't know how seriously to take what I heard on the radio, but they had a security specialist on talking about the Athens games and he said that security is not fully ramped up yet. Apparently, at the beginning of July all olympic facilities go into lockdown and are searched for potential devices before heightened security goes into place.

I just hope no new 'vending machines' or 'cash registers' or other potentially bomb laden, but common devices have already been planted in venues.

I highly doubt this olympics will come off without some sort of attack. Heck, we even had a local bomber at our summer event in 1998.