60 shots fired at German ambassador's residence in Athens

[Murazor]

Via Reuters

(Reuters) - Unidentified assailants opened fire on the German ambassador's residence in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on Monday in an attack seen as an attempt to sour relations between debt-laden Greece and its biggest creditor nation.

Police said about 60 shots were fired at the high-security residence on a busy street of a northern suburb. At least four bullets were lodged in the walls of the house and four hit the metal gate of its perimeter. No one was hurt.

Anti-German sentiment has grown during Greece's prolonged economic crisis and many of those struggling with record unemployment and falling living standards blame Germany's insistence on fiscal rigor for their economic woes.

Germany is the biggest single contributing nation to Greece's 240-billion-euro bailouts which have kept the country afloat since 2010 and saved it from bankruptcy. Germany has at least 15 billion euros ($20.67 billion) of bilateral loans extended to Greece as part of the bailout.

No one has claimed responsibility for the 3.40 a.m. (0140 GMT) attack which police believe was carried out by members of leftist guerrilla groups. A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least two assailants on foot were involved.

"Whoever is responsible for this act: You will not succeed in disrupting the close and friendly relations of our two countries," said German Ambassador Wolfgang Dold, who was at home at the time of the incident.

The residence was the target of an attack in 1999 when members of the now dismantled extremist group November 17 fired a rocket-propelled grenade that hit its roof.

Pictures lampooning German Chancellor Angel Merkel are commonplace in Athens while groups opposing Greece's bailout frequently protest outside the German Embassy. Public sector workers pelted a German diplomat with water bottles and coffee in a protest over austerity measures last year.

Monday's attack drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with the anti-bailout opposition Syriza party saying it undermined Greece's struggle against austerity.

"Who benefits from the attack?" asked Syriza lawmaker Manolis Glezos, a hero of Greek resistance to the Nazi occupation of World War Two. "Certainly not the Greek people".

"We condemn the attack but this doesn't erase our anger at Merkel's policy against our country," said Terence Quick, foreign policy spokesman of the Independent Greeks, another anti-bailout party.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras telephoned Merkel after the incident and Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos said it was a "cowardly terrorist act" which targeted Greece's image.

With a reputation for being Europe's problem child, Greece takes over the European Union presidency for six months from January 1, hoping to show how far it has come since it almost crashed out of the euro zone common currency bloc 18 months ago.

(Additional reporting by Yannis Behrakis in Athens and Madeleine Chambers in Berlin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

I thought that somebody else would have made some comment about this before, but it seems this was not the case.

[Thanas]

Not much to say, really. I think the Greek protests are very close or over the line with their common "Merkel is the hitler nazi enemy who must be destroyed" theme. IMO it was only a matter of time before some nutjobs would take it upon them to get rid of said enemy.

At the same time, there really is not much to be done. It is not as if we can just stop paying for the Greeks or chuck them out and it makes no sense to punish the populace for something a few nutjobs have done. Besides calling for more civility to the debate, but that call will not exactly get great results among the protestors, who have lost a lot in many cases.

[Pelranius]

Is it likely to be the work of the Red Brigades or some leftist group? The Golden Dawn and its thugs, far as I remember, are more interested in beating up migrants than attacking high profile targets.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

I barely follow any news anymore so I couldn't tell exactly what the hell this was. No grand manifesto so far, nobody claiming responsibility. It's some nuts with guns.

These nuts, however, are almost certainly leftist. Golden Dawn is in deep shit now, their funding is cut and their leader is pending trial for 'forming a criminal organization', which would basically mean 'conspiracy to commit'. This also doesn't fit them; guns rather than knives, killers rather than thugs, politics rather than hate crime.

[Zaune]

It could also have been one guy with a souvenir he brought home from the army who really wanted to make a point.

[Pelranius]

If two assailants were involved, does that mean it's likely two firearms were used during the crime? (Unless one was just a getaway driver/spotter).

[Thanas]

If two assailants were involved, does that mean it's likely two firearms were used during the crime? (Unless one was just a getaway driver/spotter).

To be honest, guys who spray assault rifle clips at a house trying to hit something do not strike me as the most trained or likely to use a spotter.

[Pelranius]

If two assailants were involved, does that mean it's likely two firearms were used during the crime? (Unless one was just a getaway driver/spotter).

To be honest, guys who spray assault rifle clips at a house trying to hit something do not strike me as the most trained or likely to use a spotter.

Touche, if they only used two ammunition clips, that really doesn't leave much room for correction.

[LaCroix]

They used 2 clips and only 4 bullets hit the house, somewhere -> there was no attempt at correction, or even an attempt to aim - they probably just held the trigger down and sprayed in the general direction before they ran like hell.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

It could also have been one guy with a souvenir he brought home from the army who really wanted to make a point.

Is HK G3 a Kalashnikov assault rifle?

They used 2 clips and only 4 bullets hit the house, somewhere -> there was no attempt at correction, or even an attempt to aim - they probably just held the trigger down and sprayed in the general direction before they ran like hell.

Then they weren't trying to kill, I guess. They just thought of making a point.

[Zaune]

Is HK G3 a Kalashnikov assault rifle?

Oh, don't be obtuse. Lots of soldiers pick up enemy weapons and other bits of kit as keepsakes and smuggle them home, it wasn't even against regulations until fairly recently in a lot of countries.

[Pelranius]

They used 2 clips and only 4 bullets hit the house, somewhere -> there was no attempt at correction, or even an attempt to aim - they probably just held the trigger down and sprayed in the general direction before they ran like hell.

Then they weren't trying to kill, I guess. They just thought of making a point.

Spraying and praying over a populated area is still a very bad idea, given that the bullets have to come down somewhere, even if it's 3 AM.

[Thanas]

Is HK G3 a Kalashnikov assault rifle?

Oh, don't be obtuse. Lots of soldiers pick up enemy weapons and other bits of kit as keepsakes and smuggle them home, it wasn't even against regulations until fairly recently in a lot of countries.

And Greece has fought against AK-wielding nations in recent memory when?

[Gerald Tarrant]

Is HK G3 a Kalashnikov assault rifle?

Oh, don't be obtuse. Lots of soldiers pick up enemy weapons and other bits of kit as keepsakes and smuggle them home, it wasn't even against regulations until fairly recently in a lot of countries.

And Greece has fought against AK-wielding nations in recent memory when?

They sent troops to both Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

[Thanas]

....yeah, memory fail. Conceded.

[Malagar]

Can we even be sure that they used an AK?
After all the media's inability to correctly identify firearms is legendary.

[Zixinus]

Does it really matter? The nut-job got whatever he had or whatever he could get his hands on in the black market. For all we know it's a SMG or even a pistol they fired drunkenly until they ran out of ammo.

What matters more is whether the pair responsible left any trail that the police can follow. Also, this is a downgrade from a RPG and hurray that not no one was hurt.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

Is HK G3 a Kalashnikov assault rifle?

Oh, don't be obtuse. Lots of soldiers pick up enemy weapons and other bits of kit as keepsakes and smuggle them home, it wasn't even against regulations until fairly recently in a lot of countries.

From past cases of terrorism here, an easier source for a K would be the black market or organized crime. If this was actually done by soldiers*, it'd be a first.

*We have conscription here, but to my knowledge conscripts were never sent to any NATO warzone.