Three held in Greece over fatal firebomb attacks on conservative politicians

Greek anti-terrorist police arrested three people on Friday in connection with a series of firebomb attacks against conservative party politicians that left one person dead and injured another four, authorities said.

The predawn bombings in the northern city of Thessaloniki on July 1 targeted the homes of members of Greece’s governing conservative New Democracy party. The 72-year-old mother of parliamentary candidate Afroditi Nestora was killed after a crude bomb made with camping gas canisters exploded under Nestora’s car, which was parked at the entrance of her apartment building.

Nestora herself suffered burns and remains hospitalised, but briefly left hospital Thursday to attend her mother’s funeral. Her father and two residents of the building were also injured.

Two attacks on the same night targeting other New Democracy party members caused damage but no injuries. Greece has a long history of politically motivated violence dating back to the 1970s, with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings, usually targeting symbols of power or the property of politicians, police or other authority figures. Many use crude explosive devices, often made with camping gas canisters, mostly causing material damage but no injuries.

While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s have been dismantled, new groups have emerged. Police said Friday they arrested a 29-year-old man in the northern city of Thessaloniki and a 26-year-old woman on the southern island of Crete on suspicion of involvement in the bombing at Nestora’s home, as well as one other man suspected of hiding the two in his apartment before and after the attack. Police said the search for others potentially involved in the series of attacks continued. In May 2025, a woman in Thessaloniki was killed when a bomb she was carrying exploded in her hands. Authorities said the 38-year-old had intended to plant the bomb outside a bank.

Two months later, a bomb exploded outside the Thessaloniki home of the president of Greece’s association of prison guards. He was unharmed but two other people suffered minor injuries from shattered glass.

In April last year, a bomb planted near the offices of Greece’s main railway company exploded in a busy district of central Athens, causing damage but no injuries. The bombing came amid widespread public anger over a 2023 railway disaster that killed 57 people. A new extremist group claimed responsibility for that attack.  In June 2024, a police officer guarding the home of a top judge in Athens was injured in a gasoline bomb attack.