French police investigating embassy bombing take man into custody
French police investigating embassy bombing take man into custody
Pierre-Antoine Souchard Associated Press/Paris
Police investigating a bomb attack at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris have arrested a man at an Internet cafe from where an e- mail was sent claiming responsibility, judicial officials said.
The man, who says he is from Cameroon, was detained on Sunday and was still being held on Monday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Investigators were checking his identity and background.
An e-mail sent from the Paris area Internet cafe where the man was arrested claimed responsibility for the blast on Friday that slightly injured a handful of people.
Officials said the man appeared to be mentally troubled. He claimed that his former partner was among victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.
The e-mail, sent to police in Paris' elegant 16th district where the embassy is located, as well as to some French media, claimed responsibility for the bombing in the name of the Armed French Islamic Front, a previously unknown group.
Investigators said they were treating the e-mail with skepticism. Among other things, it demanded the release of Islamic militants convicted of bombings in Paris in 1995.
The authors also said they would maintain a cease-fire until Jan. 30, after which "we will take new actions bloodier than ever in France."
French authorities tightened security around embassies in Paris following the bombing, which tore stone from a wall of the mission, broke windows in the neighborhood and damaged cars in the vicinity. The bomb was concocted with a canister of gas filled with gunpowder, police said.
On Monday, police explosives experts set off a controlled detonation of a case on a motorbike parked in front of the Canadian ambassador's residence near the Champs-Elysees.
Police said they were exercising heightened vigilance after the Indonesian Embassy bombing. Similar checks of suspicious packages also took place in front of the Iraqi and Kuwaiti embassies, police said.