Athens: Assailants have raked the German ambassador's residence with gunfire in an attack that caused no injuries, according to Greek police.

Police found 60 spent bullet casings at the scene and detained six people in connection with the incident, which occurred early on Monday morning in an affluent suburb north of Athens. The casings came from two Kalashnikov assault rifles, police say.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but anti-German sentiment has been festering among many Greeks struggling with record unemployment and reduced salaries under a harsh austerity plan required for Greece's international bailout. Germany had a major role in setting the terms of the bailout.

"Nothing, but really nothing, can justify such an attack on a representative of our country," the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said in a statement in Berlin. He said Germany took the attack seriously, and a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Greek authorities had reacted swiftly and assured Germany they would strengthen security in Athens.