Blast at Swiss Embassy in Athens

A bomb exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens today and police found suspect packages at two other embassies, in the latest wave of parcel bomb attacks in the Greek capital.

Police suspect the attacks are linked to Greek leftist guerrillas. Small bomb and gas canister attacks have been frequent in Greece since 2008 when the police killing of a teenager sparked the country's worst riots in decades.

Today a parcel bomb was found outside parliament and was addressed to the Chilean embassy. Parcel bombs were also found at the Chilean and Bulgarian embassies and one was intercepted at the offices of a courier company addressed to the German embassy.

Another suspect package addressed to the Chilean embassy was found to contain no explosives.

"The prime suspects would have to be the anarchists or far left as usual. If this is it, the story will fade but if there's another flurry tomorrow it's a different matter," said Control Risks Western Europe analyst, David Lea.

Yesterday a parcel bomb exploded at a courier office in Athens, slightly wounding an employee. Greek police then arrested two suspects carrying two more bombs, addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Belgian embassy.

Police yesterday also intercepted a third bomb found at another delivery company and destined for the Dutch embassy.