ATHENS, Greece -- Crippled but defiant after a police onslaught, Greece's most-wanted terrorist group mocked reports of its demise Wednesday and warned it could open a new front: grabbing hostages to exchange for captured suspects.
"We are still alive," said a declaration attributed to the November 17 cell that has waged a 27-year campaign of killings and attacks in the name of extreme Marxism and Greek patriotism.
The blunt proclamation, published in the Eleftherotypia newspaper, reopened questions about the size and resilience of the group following an unprecedented police counterstrike.
It also put authorities on the defensive. A monthlong series of arrests and reported confessions led to predictions that November 17 was finally vanquished.
The group is linked to dozens of bombings and 23 slayings, including four Americans, two Turkish diplomats and a British envoy.
Any new act could seriously rattle the Greek investigation and magnify security worries for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Police say several key November 17 suspects are still sought, including one of the alleged main hit men.
The statement carried the group's star logo and was obtained by the newspaper after an anonymous caller gave its location -- the same method used to distribute nearly all previous November 17 manifestos. Some officials, however, questioned its authenticity or speculated whether it was just a dying gasp. Public Order Minister Mihalis Chrisohoidis called the declaration "stupidity," but did not elaborate.
"This story has a long road ahead ... We have learned from our mistakes and, fortunately, from the mistakes of the Greek police, and we will go forward," the statement said.
No possible future targets were mentioned. But it included threats of a new direction: possible kidnappings as bargaining chips for the release of suspects in custody. The statement suggested "prisoners" could be taken if the group feels the trials are unfair or reminiscent of the "theater of the absurd" in the courts of the 1967-74 military junta.
From 1973 protest
November 17 has roots in the opposition to the dictatorship. It takes its name from the day in 1973 when tanks and troops crushed a student-led protest.
The text admitted that some members of the group's "central body" are in custody. But it suggested other "fighters" are ready to take their place and described the group's structure as concentric circles that can sustain "a hit at the center."
The group had managed to totally outwit authorities for more than a generation. Then a botched bombing in late June left one alleged member injured. It touched off a wave of arrests, including a 58-year-old man described by police as the group's mastermind.
The 14 suspects so far in custody are accused of many of the group's killings, bombings and robberies. Wednesday, the man injured in the failed bombing, Savas Xiros, was formally charged.
Two of his brothers are also in custody. Police say their confessions include the killings of two U.S. military personnel and the group's latest victim: British defense attache Brig. Stephen Saunders in June 2000.
November 17 first emerged with the 1975 ambush slaying of a CIA station chief in Athens. Its other foreign victims included military or diplomatic figures. The slain Greeks included businessmen and police officials linked to the junta period.
The statement apparently sought to reinforce the group's self-styled image as avengers for perceived wrongs against Greeks.
"(The media) is trying to pressure the simple Greek citizen to think that he can now sleep peacefully ... Who are they kidding?" the statement said. "When was the average Greek citizen ever in danger from November 17?"
Maria Bossi, a former member of Greece's anti-terrorism commission, said the references to "warlike" tactics could suggest a significant core of followers remain at large.
"Organizations that do prisoner exchanges -- that dare to reach that level -- have many people to be able to do these types of things," she said.
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