More than a dozen injured in France bomb 'attack'

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Europe

00:48

Thirteen people were injured including 11 hospitalized with wounds after a package blast in a pedestrian street in the heart of the French city of Lyon at around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron called the explosion an "attack" when the news broke during a live YouTube interview ahead of Sunday's European elections.

None of the injuries was life-threatening and most of those hurt were hospitalized for treatment to leg injuries that were described as light.

Macron has sent Interior Minister Christophe Castener to Lyon.

French Interior Minister Christrophe Castaner with a French police officer, Lyon, France, May 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

Hunt suitcase bomber

French police were hunting a suspected suitcase bomber on Friday after the explosion, who was captured on security video leaving a bag in front of a bakery shortly before the blast occurred, and the man was believed to be in his early 30s on a mountain bicycle, police sources and Mayor Denis Broliquier said.

Paris' anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation as police said they were treating the blast as an attempted homicide.

The partially masked suspect appeared in security camera footage wheeling a bicycle to the scene, before leaving a bag outside a branch of Brioche Doree, a popular bakery chain.

French security and emergency workers arrive at the scene, May 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

Police sources described the suspected attacker as a European or North African male, seen wearing beige Bermuda shorts, an army-green scarf or head wrap and dark glasses.

Soon after he left, the blast rained metal bolts on passersby in front of the premises on Rue Victor-Hugo, several blocks from the city's main station, according to police.

Police forces across France have been instructed to increase security in public places and event venues, Castaner said.

A huge 'boom'

French police escort the emergency services, Lyon, France, May 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

"I was working, serving customers, and all of a sudden there was a huge 'boom'," said Omar Ghezza, a baker who works nearby. "We thought it had something to do with renovation work. But in fact, it was an abandoned package," he said.

"There was an explosion and I thought it was a car crash," said Eva, a 17-year-old student who was about 15 meters from the site of the blast.

"There were bits of electric wire near me and batteries and bits of cardboard and plastic. The windows were blown out," he said.

France has been on high alert following a wave of deadly jihadist terror attacks since 2015 which have killed more than 250 people.

Police officers near the blast site, May 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

"It's an area at the very center of Lyon, a major street," the city's deputy mayor in charge of security, Jean-Yves Secheresse, told BFM television.

"These areas are highly secured, the police are continually present," as patrols by soldiers were deployed in a long-running anti-terror operation, he said.

Lyon is the third-biggest city in France. The population of the city plus its extensive suburbs is 2.3 million.

The most recent package bomb in France dates back to December 2007, when an explosion in front of a law office in Paris killed one person and injured another. Police never found who carried out that attack.

(With inputs from AFP and Reuters)