Assailants on a motorcycle have carried out a grenade attack on the French embassy in the Greek capital, Athens, wounding a security guard.

Police said the attack took place at around 5:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) on Thursday.

Reports said the injured officer sustained wounds to his feet and is not in serious condition.

Police cordoned off the area in front of the French embassy, which is located in one of Athens’ main streets and opposite the parliament.

The explosion left a small hole in the ground in front of the embassy and shrapnel marks on the embassy gate and guard post.

“Given the minor damage, it is likely a symbolic attack,” an unnamed police source told AFP.

Police officers investigate the site of a grenade attack near the French embassy in Athens, Greece, November 10. (Photo by AFP)

A stolen motorcycle was later found a few kilometers away from the site of the attack in Exarchia, a district popular with anarchists.

Anti-terrorist authorities believe a local far-left group may have been behind the attack; however, an investigation is underway into the assault.

Attacks against embassies, banks, politicians, journalists and businesspeople are not uncommon in Greece, where many of them are blamed on militant anarchists and far-left groups.

Commenting on the incident, government spokesman, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, said “friendly relations between Greece and France cannot be influenced in the least by such terrorist acts.”