President Emmanuel Macron called a package blast on a pedestrian street in the heart of France's city of Lyon on Friday an "attack" after the device wounded more than a dozen people just two days ahead of the country's hotly contested European Parliament elections. Police were hunting a man believed to be in his early 30s on a mountain bicycle who witnesses and security cameras saw in the area immediately before the explosion.
The number of injured stood at 13 people, with 11 taken to hospitals, a source close to the inquiry said. None of the injuries was life-threatening. A police source said the package contained "screws or bolts". It had been placed in front of a bakery near a busy corner of two popular streets at around 17:30 pm (1530 GMT) on a balmy spring evening.
The blast occurred on a narrow strip of land between the Saone and Rhone rivers in the historic centre of the southeast city. The area was evacuated and cordoned off by police. "There was an explosion and I thought it was a car crash," said Eva, a 17-year-old student who was about 15 metres (50 feet) 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. Macron, speaking in a live Facebook interview, said: "It's not for me to give a toll but it appears there are no fatalities. There have been injuries, so obviously I'm thinking of these injured and their families."
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