RIYADH: Unknown assailants firebombed a car belonging to the Saudi Embassy in the Greek capital city of Athens early yesterday.
The vehicle was partially damaged and no injuries or deaths were reported.
“The car with a diplomatic number plate was burnt by Greek anarchists as per the police sources,” confirmed Saudi Ambassador to Greece Saleh Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, speaking to Arab News by phone from Athens, yesterday.
“All embassy staffers are safe and the car was partially burnt.”
Greek police reportedly found a homemade bomb placed under the car, which was parked near a workshop for repairs, the Saudi diplomat said.
He pointed out that the Kingdom and Greece had forged closer ties in all sectors, including politics, economy and culture.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal visited Athens in November last year and held talks with senior Greek officials, including Prime Minister Konstandinos Karamanlis.
The talks focused on the relations between the two countries and ways of boosting them within the framework of the historic Saudi-Greek ties that will serve the interests of both nations.
Last April, two cars belonging to the Saudi Embassy were also torched in Athens on consecutive days. A leftist group calling itself Subversive Cell claimed responsibility for those attacks.
It said they were committed in response to the trial of a suspected criminal involved in a bank robbery.
Greek anarchists have often targeted businessmen and politicians. The police shooting of a teenage boy in December sparked that country’s worst riots in decades, fuelled by anger over corruption and economic hardship.
