ATHENS Ñ Greece asserts that it has shut down the activities of the
November 17 insurgency group.
The government of Prime Minister Costas Simitis said it has neutralized
November 17 and the group no longer poses a threat to Greek security.
Officials said the lion's share of members have been arrested, including
leaders of the insurgency group.
"Through systematic and methodical effort, with respect for the
fundamental rights of Greek citizens, democratic legitimacy, the
constitution and the law we have dealt a severe blow to the November 17
terrorist organization," Greek Public Order Minister Mihalis Chrysohoidis
said on Tuesday. "The case of November 17 and of all terrorism in Greece
will close for the state only when it is absolutely certain that all those
responsible are led to justice."
Officials said the apparent dismantling of November 17 has removed a key
threat from the Olympic Games planned in Athens in 2004. Several NATO
allies, particularly Britain and the United States, have warned that they
would not participate in the games unless November 17 members are found and
detained.
Chrysohoidis told a news conference in Athens that 10 people have been
arrested on suspicion of being linked with November 17. The minister said
although more members could be at large those detained comprise a
"significant portion of the organization."
Officials said authorities are searching for five other members of
November 17. They said the most important fugitive is Dimitris Koufodinas,
regarded as the operations planner of the group and responsible for
logistics.
Officials said they are holding several suspected leaders of the
organization, including Alexandros Giotopoulos. Giotopoulos has denied that
he is a leading member of the insurgency group, which has killed 23 people
since 1975. Four of those killed were U.S. officials.
Another suspected November 17 insurgent was identified as Costas Telios.
Telios, detained in Thessaloniki, is a 40-year-old school teacher who was
said to have confessed to helping steal 100 anti-tank rockets from an army
depot in 1989.
Telios was one of nine November 17 suspects in custody that confessed to
participating in 13 killings. At least nine deaths attributed to the group
remain unsolved.
Officials said November 17, said to have been racked by ideological
disputes and defections in the late 1970s, was planning a large scale attack
over the next few months. They included an ambush of a convoy of U.S.
soldiers heading for the NATO force in Kosovo. They said the insurgency
group had prepared anti-tank rockets, mines and explosives for the attack on
the convoy.