Athens bomb death

A powerful bomb went off outside the Greek Society for Business Management in Athens on Sunday, killing a 15-year-old Afghan boy and injuring his sister and mother.

Police said that the boy was killed at the scene while his 10-year-old sister was seriously wounded and rushed to hospital in a critical condition. Their mother escaped with slight injuries.

The bomb had been placed in a bag and left outside the government building, used for training public officials. It went off with no warning at around 10.50 pm local time in the city's Patissia district.

A police statement said that the boy may have inadvertently detonated the bomb by disturbing the bag. It said that the family would rummage through rubbish bins in the neighborhood every night.

"Probably the boy discovered and opened the bag with the bomb," said the statement. Anti-terrorism police placed a cordon around the area for several hours.

'They consider us all enemies'

Greece's civil protection minister Michalis Chryssohoides condemned the planting of the bomb as a "repugnant terrorist act."

"The guilty parties will be arrested and brought to justice," he said. "A young man has died in a mortal trap set by terrorists. The assassins consider us all as enemies, whether one is a policeman, an immigrant or just another citizen."

Public buildings and businesses are prone to frequent attacks in Athens as well as the northern city of Salonika. There has been a rise in the number of attacks by military leftists since a youth was killed by a police officer in 1998.

Left-wing extremist group the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire claimed responsibility last Monday for three bomb attacks the previous weekend. Targets included an immigration office and the offices of a neo-Nazi movement.

rc/AFP/AP/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Rob Turner