Unknown assailants set off three improvised incendiary devices at properties linked to New Democracy (ND) officials in Thessaloniki in the early hours of Wednesday, July 1, in a coordinated series of attacks that unfolded within a span of just 17 minutes.
Three blasts, three targets
According to police and local media reports, the first device, a small gas canister, exploded at 4:18 a.m. at the entrance of an apartment building in Pylaia, an eastern suburb of Thessaloniki. No damage was reported. The property is owned by Zisis Ioakeimovits, president of ND’s Thessaloniki Administrative Committee, who previously lived there himself, according to reports.
Five minutes later, a second explosion struck the entrance of a building on Perraivou Street in the Toumba area. Initial reports identified the target as the home of Savvas Anastasiadis, a former ND member of parliament for the Thessaloniki B constituency. The blast caused limited damage to the building’s entrance.
The most severe incident occurred at 4:35 a.m. in the Analipsi-Charilaou district, at the home of Afroditi Nestora, an ND parliamentary candidate for Thessaloniki A and a practicing lawyer. A fire, believed to have been triggered by an incendiary device planted at the building’s entrance, destroyed two parked cars and spread as high as the first floor. Firefighters were called in to bring the blaze under control.
Injuries, including a mother in intensive care
Five people were injured in the attacks. Nestora’s 70 year-old mother suffered severe burns across her body and is intubated in intensive care at Ippokrateio Hospital, one of Thessaloniki’s largest public hospitals. Nestora herself sustained minor burns. Her father was hospitalized with respiratory problems after inhaling smoke, along with two other residents of the building.
Fire-damaged vehicles outside the homes of officials from Greece’s ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki after an overnight attack using improvised incendiary devices, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (RAPHAEL GEORGIADIS / EUROKINISSI)
Fire-damaged vehicles outside the homes of officials from Greece’s ruling New Democracy party in Thessaloniki after an overnight attack using improvised incendiary devices, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (RAPHAEL GEORGIADIS / EUROKINISSI)
Investigation underway
The case has been assigned to Greece’s Special Violent Crime Squad, a specialized police unit, which is working to identify those responsible and establish whether the three attacks were centrally coordinated.
Political reaction
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis described the attacks as murderous in an interview with a greek radio station. “The three officials who were targeted serve their party selflessly and believe in their ideas, and because they belong to a political camp and believe in those ideas, some murderers chose to try to kill them,” he said. Marinakis added that planting gas canisters at homes and cars where people live amounts to accepting that those people could die, and argued that Greece had spent years looking away from violence emanating from the opposite end of the political spectrum. He said police had launched a manhunt to bring the perpetrators before the justice system as quickly as possible.
Alexandra Sdoukou, spokesperson for New Democracy, called the attacks acts of terrorism, speaking on the television channel MEGA. “Some cowards in Thessaloniki are trying to terrorize ND officials,” she said, adding that Greece’s political class bears responsibility when it fuels a climate of toxicity and hostility in public debate.
Opposition parties also condemned the attacks. PASOK deputy spokesperson Olga Markogiannaki said she believed the entire political establishment condemned the attacks and described those behind them as plain criminals.Marizeta Antonopoulou, of the new Tsipras party Greek Left Alliance (EL.A.S) called the attacks a shocking criminal act and extended her sympathies to Ms Nestora and her injured mother.
