This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/world/europe/paris-imf-bomb.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Letter Bomb Wounds One at I.M.F. in Paris Letter Bomb Injures Worker at I.M.F. Office in Paris
(about 3 hours later)
PARIS — A letter bomb exploded on Thursday at the International Monetary Fund’s offices in Paris and left at least one person “lightly wounded,” according to the local police. PARIS — A letter bomb exploded Thursday in the Paris offices of the International Monetary Fund, lightly injuring one person and prompting French authorities to announce an investigation of the incident as a possible terrorist attack.
A spokesman for the Paris police said the episode occurred around 11.30 a.m. when the victim, who has not been identified, opened an envelope at the fund’s offices, which are in the west of the capital. The explosion came one day after the German authorities in Berlin discovered a parcel bomb sent by a Greek terrorist organization to the office of the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, but a direct connection between the two episodes has not been established.
Police officers and firefighters were at the scene, the spokesman said, which is not far from the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of Paris’s most famous streets. Although there were no fatalities, the incident at such a high-profile target renewed jitters in France, which remains under a state of emergency after terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015 and in Nice last year.
In a post on Twitter, the police prefecture said there was a continuing operation after an injury to one person caused by “a suspicious package” that appeared to contain a “firework” of some sort. Michel Cadot, the Paris police chief, told reporters at the scene that the explosion at the I.M.F. occurred just before noon when a secretary, who has not been identified, opened an envelope addressed to the I.M.F. representative in France.
“I have been informed about the explosion in the I.M.F.’s Paris office, which caused injuries to one of our staff,” Christine Lagarde, the head of the fund, said in a statement released from Frankfurt. “We are working closely with the French authorities to investigate this incident and ensure the safety of our staff.” The explosion injured the secretary, who suffered injuries to the face and eardrums, but two other people who were nearby were not hurt, Mr. Cadot said. The parcel, he said, contained what appeared to be an artisanal “pyrotechnical device,” or a “big firecracker” that caused only limited damage.
France is still under a state of emergency after a string of terrorist attacks over the past few years, including a series of assaults in and around Paris in November 2015 that left 130 people dead. A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office said it was opening an investigation into the attack, specifically into attempted murder in relation to a terrorist undertaking, terrorist conspiracy and destruction with explosives in relation to a terrorist undertaking.
The International Monetary Fund, headquartered in Washington, uses its offices in Paris and Brussels to ease communication with European officials and policy makers. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the I.M.F., said in a statement released from Frankfurt that the fund was “working closely with the French authorities to investigate the incident and ensure the safety of our staff.”
After the attack on Thursday, the police shut down part of Iéna Avenue, the street where the fund’s office is. The attack occurred in western Paris, not far from the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous streets in Paris. It came on the same day that a Greek terrorist cell claimed responsibility for the parcel bomb that had been addressed to Mr. Schäuble discovered in Berlin the day before.
Employees and consultants waited outside the cordoned-off perimeter, apparently unsure about what would happen next. That package contained a mixture of explosives that could have caused considerable damage and injury if anyone had opened it, the Berlin police said.
“They told us to leave and we left and here we are learning about things,” said Anneke Slob, a Dutch consultant visiting from the Netherlands. The German police said that the homemade bomb included material used in the production of pyrotechnics, and the German news media confirmed that the package bore Greek stamps and was sent from Attica, in the Athens area.
She said her consulting team had been in a meeting with representatives of the International Finance Corporation, a sister agency of the monetary fund, when they realized something was wrong. The sender listed on the package was Adonis Georgiadis, a prominent lawmaker and spokesman for the Greek conservative opposition New Democracy. He is broadly perceived as backing some of the painful economic changes imposed on Greece by its international creditors — led by the I.M.F. and Mr. Schäuble.
“We were completely unaware,” she said, adding that the police had apparently failed to evacuate the room they were in. “We heard a bit, no panic whatsoever, somebody went out to go to the toilet and someone said, ‘What are you doing in the building?’ ” A spokesman for the Greek national police, Theodoros Chronopoulos, said it was “too early” to link the blast at the I.M.F. offices in Paris to the Greek terrorist group, which calls itself Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.
There was “no panic at all,” said Ms. Slop, who had luggage at her feet that police officers had retrieved from the building. “We didn’t stop our meeting for five seconds,” she added. “We are waiting to hear from the French authorities,” Mr. Chronopoulos said. “We have to see what’s left of the device, if a name or address is visible.”
Ms. Slop said she and the fellow evacuees were continuing their meeting on the street. The militants have described themselves as a nihilist guerrilla operation, and the group has been designated as a terrorist organization by Europol, Europe’s law enforcement agency, and by the State Department of the United States.
The group has claimed responsibility for sending a series of parcel bombs to several European leaders since the beginning of Greece’s economic crisis, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in 2010. The group has condemned the austerity measures imposed on Greek society. It has also pledged to fight “the system of power,” and in its statement on Thursday claimed that it would “continue stronger.”
Ms. Lagarde, in her statement, reaffirmed “the I.M.F.’s resolve to continue our work in line with our mandate.”
The Greek government is in the middle of negotiating terms of its third international bailout since 2010, this one valued at 86 billion euros, or about $92 billion.
Greece’s creditors have been pushing the government to pass further austerity measures in exchange for the release of funds that the government needs before July in order to avoid defaulting on its debt.
Greece has been asking for additional debt relief in exchange for adopting further austerity measures, while the I.M.F. and Germany have been at odds on whether such relief should be granted; the fund has advocated a more forgiving approach.
“We’re still targeted, here, unfortunately, it is the I.M.F., but this is France, and I want to tell all those working in that great institution that we’re with them,” President François Hollande said during a visit to Toulon, on France’s Mediterranean Sea coast, alluding to the fact that France has been targeted more frequently in recent years than any other country in Europe.
He added that the authorities would track down the “persons responsible and we will do it with tenacity, perseverance and until the end.”
The police and firefighters were quick to arrive at the I.M.F. offices on Iena Avenue, which was temporarily closed to traffic as the authorities quietly secured the area.
Employees and consultants working in the building waited outside a perimeter, unsure what to do next.
“They told us to leave, and we left, and here we are learning about things,” said Anneke Slob, a Dutch consultant visiting from the Netherlands to advise the International Finance Corporation, a sister agency to the I.M.F.
She said her consulting team was in a meeting with I.F.C. employees when they realized something was wrong, but there was “no panic at all,” Ms. Slob said.
“We didn’t stop our meeting,” Ms. Slob said as she stood near luggage that the police had retrieved from the building.