VZCZCXRO5545
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTH #0349 0791437
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201437Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3398
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY

UNCLAS ATHENS 000349 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
TERREP 
 
DEPT PASS TO EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER ASEC KCRM GR
SUBJECT: GREECE: BOMB ATTACK AT GOVERNMENT REAL ESTATE 
AGENCY 
 
REF: ATHENS 318 
 
¶1.  (SBU) At approximately 2130 on March 19, a bomb went off 
near the entrance of the Hellenic Public Real Estate 
Corporation (KED), heavily damaging a nearby parked car.  No 
injuries or deaths were reported.   According to police 
contacts and media reporting, the bomb was placed in a 
plastic bag and tied to a pole beside a new gas main being 
installed at the KED building.  After the blast, police 
sealed off the area and confirmed that the gas main's safety 
shutoff valve had worked.  Just prior to the detonation, a 
security guard had moved away from the blast area, suggesting 
that the bomb was remotely detonated.  However, few fragments 
have been recovered and the size of the charge is unknown. 
The KED building is one block away from Hellenic Police 
headquarters and approximately 0.6 km from Embassy Athens. 
There have been no claims of responsibility so far and police 
have not identified any suspects. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) This attack follows the March 12 claim of 
responsibility by domestic terrorist group Revolutionary 
Struggle (RS) for two other recent attacks: the March 9 early 
morning bombing of a Citibank branch in the Athens suburb of 
Nea Ionia, and the February 18 attempted bombing of a 
Citibank branch in the Athens suburb of Kifissia (see 
REFTEL).  To Pondiki, a satirical leftist weekly, published 
the full text of Revolutionary Struggle's claim of 
responsibility, a 9,000-word proclamation that criticized 
multinational financial companies and called Citibank a "den 
of thieves and criminals." The proclamation's first section 
described how RS took pains to minimize the chance of 
"civilian" casualties, but stated that RS would continue to 
use timed bombs and bomb threat warning calls to the media in 
future attacks. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The remainder of the proclamation was a historical 
analysis of the international economic crisis that blamed 
international financial institutions for a deepening gap 
between "rulers and ruled."  The goals of RS, stated at the 
end of the proclamation: "We should fight the financial and 
political regime with all means, we should fight for social 
and class revolution, we should fight for economic equality 
and freedom." 
SPECKHARD