Makeshift bomb wounds two at Greek mall

ATHENS -- A makeshift time-bomb lightly injured two security staff at a large shopping center near Athens yesterday, in escalating political violence in a country in economic crisis.

The blast followed gun and bomb attacks on political figures and journalists in recent weeks, some claimed by anti-establishment leftists angry about Greece's financial woes.

The device, which exploded shortly before 11 a.m., was left in a rubbish bin close to a National Bank branch at The Mall shopping center in the middle-class Maroussi area, police said. There had been no claims of responsibility so far.

The bomb contained about 3.3 pounds of gelatinous dynamite and a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, known as ANFO, according to a police official.

While shops are closed on Sundays, cafes, cinemas and restaurants were open for business. Police evacuated the mall after two warning calls to a newspaper and a news site about half an hour earlier.

Maroussi mayor George Patoulis told state Net TV about 200 people were in the shopping center.

"We were doing inventory in our shop and the police told us to evacuate. We ran out and in 10 minutes we heard the blast. It all happened really fast," a shop clerk told SKAI radio.

Police shut down a metro station, combed the center for other bombs and checked security cameras. Two security guards suffered minor cuts from shattered glass.

A camera showed two persons, probably male, placing a bag in the rubbish bin about half an hour before the warning call to the newspaper, then leaving the site, police said.

All major political parties condemned the attack, the first to cause injuries in several years.