Two unidentified men have gunned down a Greek anti-terrorism policeman guarding a witness in Athens on June 17.  A Greek police spokesperson said the 41-year-old officer was hit by several rounds at point blank range and succumbed inside his vehicle as the assassins made their escape on motorcycles in the Ano Patissia borough of Athens, Kathimerini has reported. 

Altogether 24 cartridges from two different firearms were recovered from the site. Greek police suspect that at least four people were involved in the deadly attack.

In recent months, leftist and anarchist groups have systematically attacked the police force as well as government and business establishments in the worst outbreak of violence in the country since the shooting of a 15-year-old boy in December 2008.

The spiralling hostility in major Greek cities, particularly in Athens, have undermined the government led by the conservative Nea Demokratia party of Kostas Karamanlis, which also has to contend with the country being hard hit by the global economic downturn.

In January 2008, another policeman from the MAT (riot police unit) was shot with an AK-47 assault rifle, attack which was later claimed to have been carried out by the Revolutionary Struggle, a militant leftist formation operational in the country, but as of yet, no one has claimed responsibility for the latest deadly attack.

"It was cold-blooded murder ... they just drew their guns and murdered him," police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis told reporters at the scene, as quoted by Reuters.

The hunt for the perpetrators continues.