Explosion in Lyon, France, prompts terror investigation
Paris (CNN)At
least 13 people were hurt Friday in an explosion in the French city of
Lyon, prompting a national investigation into possible terrorism.
The
blast occurred in the early evening in the city's central shopping
area. The French television channel BFMTV reported 12 adults and an
8-year-old child were taken to three hospitals in Lyon.
French
police are still looking for the person suspected of carrying out the
attack, according to a tweet from the French National Police verified
Twitter account. Police also tweeted a photo of the man they believed to
be "the author of the attack" and asked the public to call with any
information.
French
President Emmanuel Macron characterized the blast as an attack shortly
after it happened, telling an interviewer: "I'm late because there was
an attack in Lyon."
Emergency workers wheel a woman on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance in Lyon on Friday.
Investigators
believe the explosion may have been caused by a parcel bomb packed with
nails, a spokeswoman for the city prosecutor told CNN.
The
city's second district mayor, Denis Broliquier, said on French
television channel BFMTV that overall damage was not severe because "the
load of the parcel bomb" did not cause much of an impact. Victims'
wounds, he added, were caused by "pieces of metal and glass."
France's
National Police tweeted a photo of the man they believed to be "the
author of the attack," and asked the public to call with any
information.
An investigation into
"terrorist conspiracy" has been opened, French Justice Minister Nicole
Belloubet announced hours after the explosion.
Hanane Benakkouche, a waitress at the nearby restaurant L'espace Brasserie, told CNN of the moment the blast went off.
"We
heard an explosion. I was working on the terrace and people started
running, leaving Victor Hugo Street," she recalled. "Policemen arrived
quickly on the scene. I'm still shocked."
The
evacuated scene was visible in photos tweeted by the regional police of
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, which asked the public to avoid the area.
Emergency
responders were assisting the wounded, a spokesperson for the Police
Nationale told CNN, adding that the priority would be assisting victims
"regardless of if it was a car crash or a terrorist attack."
Later
in the day, Macron tweeted, "Tonight I think of the wounded in the
explosion in Lyon, their families affected by the violence that has
befallen their loved ones in the street, and all of Lyon. We are by your
side."
