Man injured after bomb attack on his car

A 40-YEAR-OLD man from Nikitari village was seriously injured after a car bomb exploded while he was still inside his vehicle, police said.

Petros Patsalides suffered multiple injuries to his back and legs from the explosion but is out of danger, reports said. He was rushed to Nicosia general hospital where he was admitted for treatment. A second 53-year-old man was also mildly injured during the explosion.

The incident occurred at around 4.40pm when the bomb went off in Patsalides’ car as he pulled over outside a restaurant in Kakopetria village to talk to someone. The second injured man was a customer, reports said.

Police are investigating whether the explosion was a murder attempt on the 40-year-old’s life or if he himself was transporting the bomb.

Investigators last night remained at the scene to collect as much evidence as possible.

Further enquiries are expected to begin at first light today in the hope to shed some light on the investigation.

Patsalides has been involved with police in the past. In 2002 he was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for escaping police custody during a shooting investigation.

He had been arrested after a drive-by shooting outside Nicosia’s Dow Jones disco left two women injured. He managed to give police the slip in old Nicosia as he was leading them to a weapons cache. He was at large for 18 days, finally turning himself over to a Sigma TV reporter.

Patsalides’ girlfriend, whom he later married at a civil ceremony in the Nicosia central prisons and was believed to have been the target of the angered attack, had a change of heart and decided not to press charges.

With the charges of shooting with intent to kill and illegal arms possession having been dropped, he was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for escaping police custody. He was out three months’ later and has since been living and working in the Kakopetria area, reports said.