French police arrest suspect over last week's Lyon bomb blast: Interior Minister

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Mon, 27 May 2019 - 09:51 GMT

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Mon, 27 May 2019 - 09:51 GMT

FILE PHOTO: Forensic officers inspect the site of a suspected bomb attack in central Lyon

FILE PHOTO: Forensic officers inspect the site of a suspected bomb attack in central Lyon

PARIS (Reuters) - French police have arrested a 24-year old man suspected of being behind last week’s bomb blast in the central city of Lyon that injured 13 people.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced the arrest on Twitter, but did not provide further details on the suspect or where he was arrested.

Security camera footage of the incident showed the partially masked suspect wheeling a bicycle to the scene, before leaving a bag outside a branch of a popular bakery chain.

The case is being handled as a terrorism investigation given the circumstances of the attack, committed in broad daylight, and the use of an explosive device capable of hitting a large number of people with screws and metal balls packed into a bag.

The anti-terrorism unit of the Paris prosecutors’ office, which is handling the investigation, added that a 24-year-old man was arrested Monday morning in Lyon and placed in custody.

DNA traces were found on the remains of the parcel, according to a source close to investigation.

Another source said the judicial police arrested the suspect on the street after having after tailed him.

They decided not to arrest him at his apartment, the source said, for fear that there could still be some triacetone triperoxide or TATP, the powerful but unstable homemade explosive that was used in the attack.

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