A Greek police officer guarding the home of the UK defence attache in Athens has been shot dead.
Haralambos Amanatidis, 32, was found dead in his sentry box after a dawn attack on Friday in the suburb of Kifissia, police said.
"He was shot eight to nine times and his service weapon was taken," said police director Vasilis Tsiatouras.
Security for UK diplomats has been stepped up since the previous defence attache was murdered in Athens in 2000.
No one else was injured in the attack.
The UK Defence Attache, Colonel Mark Blatherwick, was at home with his wife at the time and was unharmed.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said he could not comment on the incident, which was being dealt with by Greek police.
Motive 'unclear'
The motive for the latest attack is still unclear, officials investigating it said.
The house being guarded used to belong to the previous UK defence attache, Brigadier Stephen Saunders who was murdered in June 2000.
He was gunned down by the radical left-wing organisation November 17 as he drove to work in Athens from Kifissia.
There have been no attacks against foreign diplomats or officials in Greece since then.
Besides trying to determine whether the guard's murder heralds a resurgence of domestic terrorism, the Greek police will also seek to establish whether there was a personal motive behind the killing, the BBC's Malcolm Brabant reports from Athens.
Police broke up November 17 in the summer of 2003 and arrested 15 of its members, including its leader.
All are serving long prison terms in a specially built wing of a maximum security prison near Athens.
The northern suburb of Kifissia is one of the most heavily guarded neighbourhoods in the capital, home to dozens of diplomats, politicians and businessmen.
It emerged that the victim of Friday's shooting would not normally have been on duty but had agreed to work as a favour so the regular night guard could attend his father's memorial service.
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