Greek police arrest three in connection with deadly firebomb attacks
Greek anti-terrorist police arrested three people Friday in connection with a series of firebomb attacks against conservative party politicians that left one person dead and injured another four, reports BritPanorama.
The predawn bombings in the northern city of Thessaloniki on July 1 targeted the homes of members of Greece’s governing conservative New Democracy party. The 72-year-old mother of parliamentary candidate Afroditi Nestora was killed after a crude bomb made with camping gas canisters exploded under Nestora’s car, which was parked at the entrance of her apartment building.
Nestora herself suffered burns and remains hospitalized, but briefly left the hospital Thursday to attend her mother’s funeral. Her father and two residents of the building were also injured in the attack.
Two attacks on the same night targeting other New Democracy party members caused damage but no injuries. Greece has a long history of politically motivated violence dating back to the 1970s, with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings, usually targeting symbols of power or the property of politicians, police, or other authority figures.
Many of these attacks use crude explosive devices, often made with camping gas canisters, which mostly result in material damage rather than casualties. While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s have been dismantled, new groups have emerged.
Police reported that they arrested a 29-year-old man in Thessaloniki and a 26-year-old woman on the southern island of Crete on suspicion of involvement in the bombing at Nestora’s home, as well as one other man suspected of hiding the two in his apartment before and after the attack. The search for additional suspects in the series of attacks is ongoing.
In May 2025, a woman in Thessaloniki was killed when a bomb she was carrying exploded in her hands. Authorities stated that the 38-year-old had intended to plant the bomb outside a bank. Two months later, another bomb exploded outside the Thessaloniki home of the president of Greece’s association of prison guards, causing minor injuries to two others from shattered glass.
In April last year, a bomb planted near the offices of Greece’s main railway company exploded in a busy district of central Athens, resulting in property damage but no injuries. This bombing occurred amid widespread public anger over a railway disaster in 2023 that left 57 people dead. A new extremist group later claimed responsibility for that attack.
In June 2024, a police officer was injured in a gasoline bomb attack while guarding the home of a top judge in Athens.
