Police forensic experts investigate the area where police officer was seriously wounded in Athens on... 
(AP)
Greek anti-terror police are investigating an attack Monday against riot police in Athens that severely wounded a policeman and raised fears of a resurgence of domestic terrorism.
At least two gunmen sprayed riot police with automatic weapons fire outside the Culture Ministry before dawn Monday. Authorities said the attack may be linked to an extreme left-wing group that fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. embassy in Athens two years ago.
The shooting was a severe escalation in violence even after Greece was hit in December by its worst riots in decades, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager on Dec. 6.
For two weeks after the 15-year-old boy's death in Athens' often volatile Exarchia district, masked protesters frequently attacked police with gasoline bombs and rocks in near daily riots but caused no serious injuries.
But police officials and politicians say the perpetrators of Monday's attack, which also took place in Exarchia, were shooting to kill.
"They wanted to kill someone in uniform. They sprayed our colleagues with gunfire," said Stratos Mavroidakos, the head of a police officers' association.
"People were instigated into taking this action by the prevailing climate," Mavroidakos added, referring to the violent demonstrations in December when youths chanting "Cops, pigs, murderers!" clashed with riot police, set up burning street barricades and torched banks and stores.
"This is what happens when you have 12-year-old children at demonstrations calling police 'murderers'" he said. "These events have set us back 20 years."
Authorities say more than 30 shots were fired — at least 27 from a Kalashnikov-type automatic rifle, and another four from a 9 mm caliber weapon. The attackers also threw a hand grenade. Policeman Diamandis Matzounis, 21, suffered two gunshot wounds and was listed in critical but stable condition.
Ballistics tests showed both firearms had been used in attacks before, police said.
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