Athens bourse to remain open despite bomb attack

The Athens stock exchange will remain open on Wednesday despite a powerful bomb attack outside the building that slightly hurt a passerby, its chairman said.

"Despite the massive material damage the Athens and Cyprus (stock) markets will operate normally," bourse chairman Spyros Kapralos told reporters.

Kapralos had earlier told state television NET that the stock exchange building had sustained "extensive damage".

Television footage showed debris scattered in a wide area outside the bourse, but the exterior looked largely intact apart from a number of smashed windows.

The bomb had been placed inside a stolen van parked in front of the stock exchange in west Athens. It destroyed six other vehicles at two nearby car dealerships. A woman who was walking by when the bomb went off was hurt by broken glass.

In Salonika another anonymous call warned police and a television station before a small homemade bomb went off in a phone box behind a ministry building, causing limited damage.

The bombings, for which no one has so far claimed responsibility, came three days before the inauguration of Salonika International Fair by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.