U.S. Embassy In Athens Attacked

The U.S. Embassy in Athens came under fire early Friday from a rocket that exploded inside the modern glass-front building but caused no injuries in an attack police suspect was the work of Greek leftists.

The rocket struck the third floor just missing the embassy emblem. Investigators found the device they believe was used to fire the shell at a nearby construction site, CBS News correspondent Susan Roberts reports.

While police and emergency crews rushed to the scene, traffic across parts of central Athens came to a standstill for more than three hours.

The U.S. ambassador to Greece said the attack came without warning.

"There can be no justification for such a senseless act of violence," said U.S. Ambassador Charles Ries.

Greece's Public Order Minister said police were examining the authenticity of anonymous phone calls to a private security company claiming responsibility on behalf of Revolutionary Struggle, a militant left-wing group.

"It is very likely that this is the work of a domestic group," Minister Vyron Polydoras said. "We believe this effort to revive terrorism is deplorable and will not succeed."

Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for a May 2006 bomb attack on Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, in which nobody was hurt.

U.S.-owned banks and companies have often been targeted in small bomb attacks by groups in Greece. But Friday's incident was the most serious since the 2002 break-up of the far-left November 17 group, which was blamed for several attacks against foreign diplomats and military personnel, including the assassination of a CIA station chief in Athens.

Polydoras said Greece "strongly condemns" the attack.

"We believe it is a symbolic act," he said. "It is an attempt to disrupt our country's international relations."

Police cordoned off streets around the heavily guarded building after the explosion, stopping traffic in much of central Athens for more than three hours. Emergency services scrambled to the embassy building, a frequent destination for protest groups.

Investigators were examining what they believed was the device used to fire the rocket shell from a construction site near the embassy.

"This is an act of terrorism," Police Chief Asimakis Golfis said. "There was a shell that exploded in the toilets of the building ... It was fired from street level."

Ambassador Ries said the building was not occupied at the time and the damage was minimal. The embassy is now a crime scene and will remain closed until further notice, he said.

"We're treating it as a very serious attack," Ries said.

Authorities were searching nearby apartment buildings and a nearby hospital for evidence.

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis visited the embassy after the blast.

"I came here to express the solidarity of the Greek people following this deplorable action," she said.

"Such actions in the past have had a very heavy cost for the country. ... The Greek government is determined to undertake every effort to not allow such phenomena to be repeated in the future."

Giorgos Yiannoulis runs a kiosk near the embassy. "I heard a loud bang; I didn't realize what was going on," he said.

According to the terrorist group database maintained by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) and funded by the U.S. government's Department of Homeland Security, authorities first became aware of the group Revolutionary Struggle [Epanastatikos Aghonas or EA] in 2003 when it was linked to a bomb attack on the Athens courthouse complex.

According to MIPT, Revolutionary Struggle embraces a socialist and somewhat anarchist philosophy, tends to target government buildings and officials and although apparently operating on a small scale, is considered to be "the most active" Greek terrorist group since the demise of the November 17th group.

The explosion smashed some of the glass in the front of the embassy, near the U.S. emblem on the building.

"I heard a loud bang - I didn't realize what was going on," said Giorgos Yiannoulis, who runs a kiosk near the embassy.

The U.S. diplomatic compound is located on a main street in Athens and has in the past been the site of demonstrations and protests, some of them aimed at the Bush administration.

The blast is the first major attack against a U.S. target in more than a decade, following the arrest of members of Greece's far-left November 17 terrorist group. The group was blamed for killing 23 people — including U.S., British and Turkish officials — and dozens of bomb attacks.

In 2003, a special court gave multiple life sentences to November 17's leader, chief assassin and three other members. Lesser sentences were given to ten others.

November 17 carried out a rocket attack against the U.S. embassy in 1996, causing minor damage and no injuries.

Several obscure militant groups have appeared since the November 17 members were arrested, and on three occasions in 2005, government ministries were bombed.