Greek terror suspects charged as paper says they planned attack

ATHENS, Greece -- Greek authorities on Sunday charged two alleged members of the November 17 terror organization in the assassination of American and British servicemen, and a newspaper reported the deadly urban guerrilla group planned to attack U.S. and NATO peacekeepers.

Police also arrested a 10th alleged group member in northern Greece Sunday as they continued dismantling an organization that killed four U.S. military officials and 19 other people in 27 years. Thomas Serifis, 36, who worked for the Athens public bus company, was being questioned.

A magistrate on Sunday also arraigned three of the first suspected November 17 terrorists arrested after police achieved their first breakthrough against the group in 27 years after a botched June 29 bombing.

That trio included two brothers, who confessed to nine of the 23 killings attributed to November 17, and a family friend charged with a bombing and robbery. A third brother, injured in the failed bombing, remains hospitalized under police guard.

The Athens daily newspaper Eleftherotypia reported Sunday that the wave of arrests had foiled a plot by November 17 to attack a convoy of NATO peacekeepers driving from the northern port of Thessaloniki to Macedonia and Kosovo.

NATO has more than 30,000 troops in Kosovo, including about 5,000 U.S. soldiers. The force, known as KFOR, uses Thessaloniki as a logistical base.

The paper did not say when November 17 planned to carry out the attack, and police would not comment on the report. The paper said some of those arrested told police about the plot and that evidence was found at one of the November 17 hideouts.

The ambush reportedly was planned for a convoy using a highway leading to the Macedonian border.

In informal conversations with police, November 17 suspects said they scouted the highway and found locations "where they planned to strike American forces with rockets and car bombs," Eleftherotypia reported.

"Officials of the anti-terrorist police were left speechless listening to people being held as members of November 17 developing the nightmarish scenario of war," Eleftherotypia reported.

Those arrested so far include an alleged leader of the extreme left-wing group, which bombed, assassinated and robbed with impunity for 27 years. Police still are searching for other members, believed to number a few dozen.

Authorities believe they now are close to dismantling the group, which eluded Greek, American and British authorities since 1975 after killing the CIA station chief in Athens, Richard Welch.

The rabidly anti-American group used guns, bombs and anti-tank rockets to kill -- including two Turkish diplomats and Greek businessmen and politicians.