A gas canister attack at the office of a conservative politician in Athens early on Thursday caused minor damage and no injuries, 10 days before a key general election in Greece.

Police said that the damage at the office entrance of Adonis Georgiadis, a former parliamentary spokesman of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's New Democracy party, was caused when attackers attempted to set off the makeshift explosive device.

Police officials had initially said that the damage was caused when one of three gas canisters at the office entrance went off.

Georgiadis announced the attack on Twitter.

Small bomb and arson attacks are frequent in Greece but have increased since 2010, when Greece adopted unpopular austerity measures in exchange for a 240 billion-euro bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Polls show the radical leftist Syriza party holding a steady lead over the conservatives before Jan. 25 elections.