A Greek extremist group on Monday claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks last weekend that caused damage to the offices of a neo-Nazi movement, the home of a Pakistani and migration offices. The group, the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, said in a message posted on the left-leaning Indymedia website the attacks were a contribution to the ongoing debate in the country on immigration. It said Greece, which has become a major entry point for clandestine migrants, was an "off-putting example" of exploitation and lack of assistance. While denouncing widespread "racism", Conspiracy also said the Pakistani targeted was cooperating with Greek authorities. In the latest blast to rock the Greek capital a home-made bomb exploded outside a building housing immigration offices Saturday causing some damage but no one was hurt. Earlier Saturday, a bomb exploded outside the home of the Pakistani, the chairman of the Greek-Pakistan friendship association according to media reports, without injuring anyone. The Pakistani community in Greece numbers several thousand members, most of whom live in the greater Athens area. Early Friday the headquarters of neo-Nazi group Chryssy Avghi had been targeted. Chryssi Avghi members, who have held a number of rallies in central Athens for the last months, have been denounced by the left for attacking immigrants and anti-racist militants. Muslim migrants in Greece have faced increasing hostility from far-right militants, and the Pakistani community has frequently denounced attacks on its members by Greek youths. Last month a gang of mostly teenagers set fire to a house in Sparta, southern Greece as a group of Bangladeshi migrants slept inside. In May last year, five Bangladeshi migrants were injured after unknown assailants tried to burn down a makeshift mosque in Athens. Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire last claimed responsibility for a bomb attack outside the Greek parliament on January 9. Seven Conspiracy members have been arrested since police uncovered a cache used by the group in an Athens suburb in September last year. The group is suspected of having carried out a string of bomb and firebomb attacks in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki since 2008, but no life was lost.
sify
