Explosion in Athens overnight as the government holds its first bond sale since 2010, and prepares to welcome Angela Merkel back to Greece on Friday
7.56am BST
Some of the early reaction on Twitter:
A warning came before the #Athens explosion outside of Bank of #Greece. If not, there could have been fatalities.
No injuries, quite a blast as bomb explodes outside central bank hours before Greece returns 2 markets http://t.co/ucpQngVyCj @ekathimerini
Broken glass window in Stadiou str (Athens center) from the explosion occurred early in the morning. via @dromografos pic.twitter.com/1KptPRUqwi
7.55am BST
Here's Kathimerini's early take on the car bomb:
Police cordoned off the area, but did not immediately approach the actual site of the explosion.
As dawn broke, television footage from the area showed the remnants of a car in the middle of an Athens street, with debris strewn around. It was unclear whether nearby buildings were damaged.
7.52am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the financial markets, the global economy, the eurozone and business.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but police believed leftist or anarchist groups were behind it, the official said. Witnessess saw debris strewn across the street in a busy part of the capital lined with banks, shops and a mall.
Makeshift bombings and arson attacks have escalated since Greece adopted unpopular austerity measures in exchange for multibillion euro bailouts by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in 2010.
Are of #bomb explosion in #Athens, outside a Central Bank of #Greece building. Lots of police, media 2 blocks away pic.twitter.com/Menz3BrhcD
Continue reading... |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |