The Greek government and the entire political world face as a new nightmare following the terrorist attack at the Golden Dawn offices in Neo Heraklio on Friday. The attack claimed the lives of two men, aged 22 and 26, while a third man is currently battling for his life and reported to be in critical condition. The attack is indeed puzzling as it opens a circle of political violence that can dangerously complicate the atmosphere in Greece. Reports said that the counter terrorism squad is trying to determine the motives behind the attack but things are still unclear.
It should be reiterated that two assailants escaped on a motorbike after shooting at four men standing on the pavement outside the offices of the Golden Dawn party in Neo Heraklio at about 7pm local time on Friday evening. Authorities sent 12 9mm shell cases which were found at the scene of the crime for ballistic examination.
The two men killed in the attack have been identified as Argyris Kapelonis, 22, and Giorgos Fountoulis 26. The third victim, aged 29, was immediately rushed to the Gennimatas hospital where he underwent extensive surgery and is now reported to be in critical condition. The gunman also fired at a fourth Golden Dawn member, but luckily he managed to get inside a building unharmed.
On Saturday, authorities announced that they identified the gun used in the shooting. The gunman apparently fired 12 rounds from a Zastava Tokarev-type semi-automatic pistol. Reports said that twelve 9 mm cartridges were recovered from the scene of the cime, and ballistic tests showed the semi-automatic gun had not been used in criminal or terrorist activity before. They also said that the counter terrorism squad has taken away a motorcycle which was found three blocks away from the crime scene for forensic tests.
Quite interestingly, earlier in the morning, and while speaking to two reporters on MEGA channel, John Michaletos, an expert and analyst on national security issues, said that there is a high probability that we are dealing with "imported executioners", who, according to him, acted with a cold and professional manner, that is "rare but not something new."
Michaletos said that the case is more reminiscent of hits made in various European cities by teams from the former Eastern bloc, because it was so well organized. In his expert opinion, in attacks such as these, there is always a second team stationed somewhere nearby which checks if the hit men have a free scope to perform their hit.
He said that hits like these are very unfamiliar territory for Greek authorities and noted that if the investigations do not yield anything specific within the first 48 hours, then it will be very difficult to identify the perpetrators who committed this crime. He then said that maybe the perpetrators have already left the country (or are planning to do so over the next few days).
The various reports that claimed that the victims were shot at at point range were also confirmed on Saturday when it was announced that a video from a nearby security camera confirmed accounts from Golden Dawn members that the attacker started firing from 15 metres away and killed his victims at point-blank range.
A separate report on defencenet also said something else that was quite interesting. It said that there are some concerns within the Golden Dawn party that the actual targets of Friday night's shooting were MPs Panagiotis Iliopoulos and George Germenis. It should be noted that the two young boys who were killed, or George Fountoulis and Manolis Kapelonis, have many striking similarities with the two MPs.
Meanwhile, the mother the third man, 29-year-old Alexandros Gerontas, who was shot outside Golden Dawn’s offices in northern Athens on Friday night has undergone surgery and is currently in critical condition. His mother told reporters on Saturday (on SKAI tv) that doctors performed a splenectomy on the victim, and that he is currently battling for his life.
“Alexandros is battling, his injuries are very serious. His heart and vital organs have not been damaged. Let God protect all the children of the world,” she said.She also noted that her son was a sympathizer rather than member of the Golden Dawn party and she called for no more blood to be shed.
Following the brutal murders, Golden Dawn spokesman Elias Kassidiaris confirmed that the two victims were members of the Golden Dawn party. In statements to Star TV he talked about the terrorist attack and criticized the government and the Minister of Public Order and Justice.
On Defencenet one report slammed the government which it said is highly responsible for the hit, because it had information about an imminent "political hit" from mid-October. The same report also noted that following a government decision, the State had withdrawn police protection from the members of the Golden Dawn party and its offices, even though party members had continued to notify authorities that they were being physically threatened.
Speaking about the police. Currently, authorities are examining all avenues, particularly those that link these events to extremist groups. (More exactly they are looking into attacks that were performed by groups describing themselves as revolutionary and anti-authoritarian are relatively common in Greece). Most of these groups don't usually perform executions, with the exception of a fatal shooting that was conducted in 2009. In this case a police officer was killed by three unknown gunmen, while in another case in 2010 a journalist was shot dead at his home. Both these killings were claimed by the Sect of Revolutionaries, which is a highly dangerous extremist group. The Sect of Revolutionaries has been quiet of late, but another extremist group called the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei has claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks including a bomb attack on the car of the Athens prison director.
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