Authorities in Monaco are investigating an explosion that wounded three people in the usually safe principality as "attempted murder" but are not considering it as a "terrorist" act, a public prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Stephane Thibault declined to say who was the presumed target of the parcel bomb that went off on Monday night, with several sources saying it was Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev.
The parcel bomb blast wounded at least three people, including Yermolaiev, authorities said, in an unprecedented act that has rocked the European principality.
A couple and a teenager were wounded in the explosion that struck around 9:00 pm local time in a residential building on a street along the border with France.
Monaco's Prince Albert II described the incident as a "heinous crime" and "a shock to the entire Monegasque community."
An aide to France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police were working "to find the perpetrator, who has fled."
A couple in their 50s or 60s suffered life-threatening injuries, while a 13-year-old suffered less serious injuries in the explosion, Monaco's Minister of State Christophe Mirmand said, without disclosing their identities.
He said the teenager was "very likely related" to the pair.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw a heavy police presence with access to the area cordoned off, while a helicopter circled overhead.
Around 50 firefighters and 80 security personnel were deployed at the scene.
Bolts and buckshot
Public prosecutor Stephane Thibault said a suspect had left a bag or package in the building's lobby before leaving.
Nothing appeared for the moment to indicate why the building might have been targeted, he added.
Monaco’s government said the "strong explosion" was caused by a "parcel bomb."
"A suspect was seen on video surveillance fleeing towards the municipality of Beausoleil in France," it wrote on X.
Mirmand said witnesses had provided information to identify the suspect.
The explosive device apparently contained bolts and buckshot, Mirmand said.
Emergency services treated four other people for shock and cuts from windows shattered in the blast, he said.
"This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality," he added.
Yermolaiev, a multi-millionaire Monaco resident, has been subject to sanctions from Kyiv since December 2023, which Ukrainian security services reportedly said stemmed from his alcohol business activities in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Mirmand told a news conference late Monday that intelligences services were working to understand the victims' background and "determine if others might be facing specific threats."
He said the prosecutor would give another news briefing on Tuesday.
