ATHENS: Six people died near Athens on Monday in a shootout with suspected links to organised crime, police said, one of the deadliest seen recently in Greece.

A police statement said the victims were found in the coastal town of Artemida, 35 kilometres east of the capital.

“Six fatally injured persons were found after shots were fired in Artemida,” the statement said. The police did not respond to a request for comment.

Several killings attributed to gang warfare have occurred in Greece in past months, with some news reports blaming fuel smuggling. But the number of dead in Monday’s incident is uncommonly high.

In June, a 37-year-old former convict and alleged bodyguard was gunned down outside his home in Athens’ Korydallos districtvalongside another man. A year earlier, a 38-year-old petrol station owner had been killed at his establishment in the Athens suburb of Gerakas. Kalashnikov assault rifles, a popular weapon in organised crime hits in Greece, were used in both attacks.

The petrol station owner’s family later said he was targeted by “extortionists and organised crime figures” for “refusing to be part of an illegal racket”.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023