A Greek guerrilla group, the second in about a month, on Sunday claimed responsibility for a gas canister scare in the Athens metro in late February, local media reported.

According to police sources, the claim which was uploaded on a leftist website, as the country is heading to early general elections due in late April or early May, seems authentic.

The so-called "February 12 Movement" group said there was no intention for casualties and the target was chosen to protest hikes on public transportation cost and a string of austerity measures introduced over the past two years to counter an acute debt crisis.

The name of the group refers to extensive violent clashes between anarchists and police on February 12 this year, as the parliament was approving a new set of painful austerity policies attached to a second international bailout package for Greece to avoid a chaotic default.

Shortly after Greek police confirmed discovery of a minor home-made incendiary device at a central Athens station on February 27, a group named "Urban Warfare Guerrilla" had claimed responsibility for the attack in telephone calls made to local media, warning with more attacks in the near future.

Greece has been rocked by domestic far-left terrorism for over three decades. Since the onset of the debt crisis in late 2009, guerrilla groups have claimed responsibility for attacks against political, police and financial targets, in protest of austerity measures.