A member of the extremist Greek group November 17 has admitted to taking part in five murders, including an American military attache, and is to face charges in court today, a police spokesman said.
Mr Patroclos Tselendis has admitted to taking part in the murder of US military attache Mr William Nordeen in 1988, as well as those of a Greek policeman, a newspaper publisher and his driver, and a businessman between 1984 and 1986, spokesman Mr Leftheris Oikonomou said.
The 42-year-old was arrested yesterday as part of a month-long crackdown which has seen 13 suspected guerrillas arrested, after more than a quarter-century of investigations into the group had led nowhere.
November 17, named after the date of a 1973 student uprising against Greece's former military dictatorship, is considered responsible for a string of bombings and assassinations.
It was only in late June, when police arrested a suspect after a bomb he was transporting went off prematurely, that authorities were able to begin to crack the shadowy group.
The police round-ups of members of the underground group have met with praise from around the globe after Athens came under pressure to stamp out "terrorism" ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games.
Mr Tselendis, who was known within the group under the code name of "Alekos" or "Tainias", is also believed to have taken part in several attacks, notably in April 1987 when the group ambushed a bus full of US military outside Athens, the spokesman said. 13 people were injured.
Police say he is also behind the attempted murder in January 1988 of Mr George Caros, an officer with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, who was not injured in the attack.
AFP