A 72-year-old woman has died and four other people were hospitalized after unidentified attackers carried out three coordinated firebomb attacks on properties linked to Greece's governing New Democracy party in the northern city of Thessaloniki in the early hours of Wednesday, July 1.
Vagia Nestora, mother of New Democracy parliamentary candidate Afroditi Nestora, suffered burns over approximately 80 percent of her body when the attack struck her daughter's apartment building around 4:35 a.m. She was rushed to Hippokrateio Hospital but later died of multiple organ failure. Afroditi Nestora, her father, and two other residents were also hospitalized after the blast set two cars and several motorcycles ablaze and sent thick smoke through the building's entrance.
The Nestora residence, in the Analipsi–Charilaou area, was the third and most severe of three near-simultaneous strikes carried out within a 17-minute window. The first, at roughly 4:18 a.m. in Pylaia, targeted a property owned by Zisis Ioakeimovits, chairman of New Democracy's Thessaloniki steering committee, causing no injuries. The second, minutes later in Toumba, hit the building where former New Democracy MP Savvas Anastasiadis resides, cracking windows and scorching the facade but again causing no casualties.
Investigators say all three devices were improvised explosives built from small gas canisters combined with containers of petrol, apparently detonated by assailants moving between locations on a motorcycle. Greece's Counter-Terrorism Service has taken over the case, and police believe a single, organized group planned the attacks in advance. No arrests have been made, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Greek media outlets, including Kathimerini, ERT, Newsbomb, and Real.gr, have uniformly described the strikes as a coordinated "terrorist attack" against ruling-party figures, noting the precision of the timing and the deliberate selection of politically connected targets as evidence against the theory of random vandalism.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to Thessaloniki to visit the injured, calling the attacks "murderous and inhumane" and vowing "zero tolerance for any new form of terrorism." Speaking from the hospital, he dismissed the perpetrators as "common criminals" masquerading as social activists rather than genuine political actors. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis went further, describing the attacks as attempted assassinations targeting individuals "because of their political beliefs."
Opposition parties responded with near-unanimous condemnation. PASOK called the attacks an "abhorrent crime" demanding swift arrests; SYRIZA–Progressive Alliance denounced them "unequivocally," with leader Sokratis Famellos calling for a full investigation, while former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offered condolences to the family. The Communist Party (KKE) condemned the violence but suggested the government might seek to exploit the incident politically. Right-wing and far-right parties, including Elliniki Lysi, Niki, and Spartiates, also condemned the attacks, with some framing them within broader law-and-order platforms.
Authorities are reviewing CCTV footage from all three locations as the investigation continues. No motive has been officially confirmed, though Greece has a long history of politically motivated bomb and arson attacks, typically attributed to anarchist or far-left militant groups.
Photo: Efimerida ton Syntakton