Biodun.BBC: BREAKING: France Lyon: Police appeal after parcel bomb blast hurts 13

Friday, May 24, 2019

injured in Lyon — Image captionThe injured were taken to hospital

by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Lyon

French police have made an appeal for information in their hunt for a man suspected of planting a parcel bomb in Lyon, which injured 13 people.

The device went off outside a bakery on a busy street in the heart of the country's third-biggest city.

Those hurt, including a girl aged eight, appear to have suffered superficial injuries.

Anti-terrorist prosecutors have taken over the investigation and security has been boosted in public places.

Police released a grainy image of the suspect taken from CCTV footage.

They said he was wearing a long-sleeved dark top and light-coloured shorts.

A police source told AFP news agency the suspect appeared to be about 30 and was using a black mountain bike.

What do we know so far?

The device, which was reportedly full of screws, nuts and bolts, exploded around 17:30 (15:30 GMT) on Victor-Hugo Street, in the historic city centre, between the Saone and Rhone rivers.

Police in Lyon — Image captionPolice sealed off the scene

French media quoted a receptionist at a nearby hotel as saying there had been a "deafening blast".

"I saw people running and panicking and heard several cries," Alexis Saillan told BFMTV.

An explosives expert at work in Lyon, 24 May — Image captionExplosives experts worked at the scene after Friday's blast

The last time a parcel bomb had exploded in France was in 2007 when a device killed one person and injured another in front of a law office in Paris, AFP news agency reports. Police never found the bomber.

Jihadist gun and bomb attacks have killed more than 250 people in France since 2015 and the country remains on high alert, with military patrols a regular feature of security in cities including Lyon.

The blast in Lyon comes days before France votes in the European elections after a closely fought race.