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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Car Bomb Rocks Athens Stock Exchange

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A car bomb rattled the Athens Stock Exchange Wednesday, damaging the building, setting eight vehicles afire and wounding a security guard, police said.

The blast occurred about 40 minutes after a device exploded outside a government building in Thessaloniki in northern Greece, The New York Times reported. The explosion caused minor damage but no injuries.

Both attacks Wednesday were preceded by anonymous warning calls to police and an Athens newspaper, officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but police and counter-terrorism officials said they suspected the Athens explosion was set by Revolutionary Struggle, a far-left militant group that initiated a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Greek capital two years ago.

"There does not appear to be any link between the two attacks," national police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said. "We suspect the Thessaloniki hit was by a local militant group.

"The Athens bourse attack is far more serious."

Officials at the exchange said trading would proceed as normal in both Greece and Cyprus, which share the same trading platform.

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