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ATHENS, Greece – Gunmen sprayed an Athens riot police unit with automatic weapons fire and seriously wounded a policeman early Monday in an escalation of violence that erupted last month when a teenager was killed in a police shooting.

The attack targeted police stationed outside the Culture Ministry in the capital, police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said. Less than two weeks ago on Dec. 23, gunmen fired two automatic rifles at a riot police bus passing a university campus outside central Athens, but none of the 20 or so officers on board was injured.

The policeman wounded in Monday's shooting was in serious condition and undergoing surgery for two gunshot wounds, one to the thigh and one near the shoulder, said Panos Efstathiou, head of the Health Ministry's operations center.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos visited the officer in the hospital. Authorities have identified the policeman as 21-year-old Dimanadis Matzounis.

"Those who attacked Diamandi Matzounis targeted democracy and order," the interior minister said.

"They will soon realize that democracy is strong and our society is safeguarded," Pavlopoulos said, adding that "no bullet and no murderer" could undermine the police force's morale and sense of duty.

Greek officers and police stations have frequently been attacked by masked protesters throwing gasoline bombs during the past month of rioting, sparked by the Dec. 6 police shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens' volatile Exarchia district. But none of the attacks had caused serious injury until Monday.

A police official said two men, one with a Kalashnikov-type automatic rifle, had sprayed bullets at the police unit in Exarchia — a downtown area of bars and restaurants that is considered an area favored by radicals.

After the 3:05 a.m. (0105 GMT) attack, patrol cars and riot police buses blocked access to much of Exarchia well into the morning, and forensic investigators in white coveralls collected evidence from the site of the shooting.

A police statement said authorities detained 72 people during the initial search for suspects.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting.

After the Dec. 23 attack against the riot police bus, an anonymous caller had claimed responsibility for that shooting on behalf of a previously unknown group. It was unclear whether the claim of responsibility was reliable.

A public prosecutor who handles terrorism offenses is heading that investigation.

At least six serious attacks have been carried out by little-known domestic radical groups in the past five years, including two bombings and the fatal shooting of a policeman by gunmen who stole his automatic weapon.

Most of these attacks were claimed by a group called Revolutionary Struggle.

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