Parcel Bomb in Lyon: The Main Suspect has Confessed

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Police officers secure a perimeter in front of "La Brioche dorée" after the explosion of a parcel bomb on a pedestrian street in Lyon on May 24, 2019.

The alleged perpetrator of the Lyon parcel bomb, whose explosion caused 13 injuries, confessed to being responsible for the attack. He explained that he himself designed the explosive device.

The guards of the man suspected of having exploded a parcel bombed in Lyon and three of his relatives were still running Wednesday afternoon, while the exploitation of computer equipment seized has revealed compromising research for the suspect.

Mohamed Hichem M., a 24-year-old Algerian, was arrested Monday morning in Lyon, shortly before his father, his mother and his brother .

He confessed, according to information from the Point . He admitted that he bought the material on Amazon and designed the explosive device himself. He told the investigators that he acted alone.

Screenshot of a video surveillance of the city of Lyon showing the main suspect of the parcel bomb attack in the city center of Lyon, May 24, 2019.
Screenshot of a video surveillance of the city of Lyon showing the main suspect of the parcel bomb attack in the city center of Lyon, May 24, 2019. (© FRENCH POLICE / AFP / Archives / Handout)

13 minor injuries

Auditions of the four held in custody are conducted in the Paris suburbs, on the premises of the Sub-Directorate anti-terrorism (Sdat), said a source familiar with the matter.

On Friday at around 5.30 pm, a young man on a bicycle, wearing a cap and sunglasses, had placed a paper bag in front of a bakery in a pedestrian street, containing screws, metal balls, batteries and a printed circuit board. a remote triggering device. The bomb explosion, which contained a small amount of TATP, made 13 light injuries.

The investigation was able to determine that “the genetic profile identified on the elements of the machine found at the scene of the explosion corresponds to that of the main suspect,” said the source close to the case.

During searches carried out in the family home of Oullins, in the suburbs of Lyon, “elements likely to enter the composition of the TATP (an explosive, ed) were found,” continued the same source.

The police leave the residence "les Ifs" on May 27, 2019 in Oullins near Lyon where a suspect of the attack committed last week was arrested.
The police leave the residence “les Ifs” on May 27, 2019 in Oullins near Lyon where a suspect of the attack committed last week was arrested. (© AFP / ROMAIN LAFABREGUE)

Internet searches

The exploitation of computer equipment seized during the searches also “highlighted research on the internet related to jihad and the manufacture of explosive devices”. Did he want to kill? After 48 hours of custody, the motives of the young man remained mysterious.

Tuesday morning, the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, had said he had “no doubt” about the fact that the young man arrested, who was in an illegal situation in France since the expiry of his visa , was the author of the attack.

His statements, after those of his predecessor and mayor of Lyon Gerard Collomb, who had announced Monday the arrest of a second person, led to a development of the Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz: the magistrate recalled that he was ” the only one authorised to make public the elements covered by the secrecy of the investigation.

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