Militant Greeks claim attack on U.S. Embassy

Thursday, January 25, 2007

ATHENS, Greece -- A Greek militant group has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Athens earlier this month, blaming American policy in Iraq and the Middle East for the strike. The far-left group Revolutionary Struggle issued a statement to the weekly Pontiki newspaper, its publisher Dimitris Benekos said Wednesday. He said the statement would be published today and police said forensic experts were examining the document. "It is a five-page statement which explains why it chose the embassy as a target, linking [the attack] with U.S. foreign policy in various parts of the world -- Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine and so on," Benekos said. "The statement was signed by Revolutionary Struggle," he said. There were no injuries in the Jan. 12 attack, which caused minor damage. The strike using a rocket-propelled grenade alarmed authorities, who fear a possible resurgence of Greek militant attacks that were common in the 1980s and 1990s.

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