Police arrest man over RI Embassy bombing
Police arrest man over RI Embassy bombing
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.