A bomb went off on Saturday morning at the Labour Ministry on Stadiou Street in Athens, damaging the front and windows of the building and nearby buildings.
The bomb had been placed in a backpack and hung on railings across from the ministry, in front of a bank branch that was shut down for renovations. Police specialists believe the bomb was placed there so the shock wave would be directed at the ministry.
Before the blast at 01:29, two warning calls were placed by an unknown person to Efimerida ton Syntakton daily.
In the first call, the unknown individual warned that a bomb had been placed outside the ministry and would be detonated in 40 minutes, but then called again to say it had been placed across from the ministry at the bank branch.
He also said that the responsibility for the bomb was claimed by the "Revolutionary Class Self-Defense", a first-time appearance of this organisation.
Police said they were warned by the newspaper at 00:48, and they cordoned off the area, stopping traffic on
Stadiou Street at the Pesmazoglou cross-street, while a bomb squad was called in.
Stadiou Street remained shut all night, with traffic restored shortly after 09:00 on Saturday.
The bomb squad has collected material from the explosion, while the Counterterrorism Service has begun collecting material from nearby cameras.
Security cameras recorded the perpetrators, and authorities will take the footage from the cameras to see how the perpetrators got there, where they escaped from and especially if they will be able to identify them.
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