Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-09-02

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Bombs target ASE, ministry

[01] Bombs target ASE, ministry

A woman was lightly injured in the hand by a glass shard at a distance from the explosion, which caused damage to surrounding buildings as well.

Police had cordoned off the area surrounding the new ASE building, on the corners of Chrimatistiriou (Stock Market) street and Athinon Boulevard, after a 5:05 a.m. anonymous call to the Athens daily ELEFTHEROTYPIA warning that explosives had been planted in a van parked outside the ASE building and would explode in 40 minutes.

The home-made bomb, which exploded at 5:35 a.m., was planted in a white van parked outside the ASE building off Athinon Boulevard in Athens.

It was as yet unknown whether trading would be conducted on Wednesday on the ASE, and a relevant announcement was expected from the ASE board after assessment of the full extent of the damage caused to the building.

The bomb, which exploded at about 5:35 a.m., also caused fires to nearby parked cars, which were extinguished later by the Fire Department.

Police told ANA-MPA that the van had been stolen on Monday from the Zographou district in Athens. Teams from the police counter-terrorism squad and the crime squad were combing the surrounds, while traffic on Athinon Boulevard was temporarily cut off.

The ASE board and president Spyros Kapralos announced later that trading on the Athens Stock Exchange will be conducted as usual.

Meanwhile, another explosion occurred almost simultaneously in Thessaloniki outside the Macedonia-Thrace ministry, again following an anonymous call to the private television station ALTER and police in Athens.

The unidentified caller warned that an explosion would take place in about 10 minutes at the ministry.

The explosive device, of small intensity, had been planted behind the ministry building and caused only minor material damage.

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