Grenade blast hits British base in Southern Cyprus

By Murat Demirci

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - A military base on British sovereign territory in Southern Cyprus was attacked on Tuesday.

A police statement said person on a motorbike had thrown a grenade at the facility in Dhekelia, on the southeastern coast of Cyprus.

One police officer is said to have suffered minor injuries; the assailant fled the scene. The base and its surroundings suffered small-scale damage.

The U.K. has maintained two military bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia since the island gained independence from Britain in 1960.

Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after an Enosis-inspired 1974 military coup was followed by violence against the island’s Turkish community, and Turkey’s intervention as a guarantor power.

The status of the island remains unresolved in spite of a series of discussions that resumed in May 2015.