French authorities on Friday detained a man after receiving an alert from the Iranian consulate in Paris that someone had entered carrying an explosive, the capital’s police authority said.
“The man has exited the consulate and is being controlled” by police, it said, after a security source told AFP that the mission called in law enforcement following a witness seeing a man enter carrying a grenade or an explosive belt.
#URGENT consulat Iran Paris : intervention policière imminente – alerte individu avec grenade ou gilet explosifBRI mobiliséeQuartier boucléDispositif #policier en placetrafic #ratp métro 9 et 6 interrompus#Police #attentat #vigipirate pic.twitter.com/PHyCjTBm65— Denis JACOB (@DenisJACOB_PN) April 19, 2024
DIRECT – Opération de police en cours au consulat d’#Iran : Le trafic de la #Ligne6 et la #Ligne9 du métro est arrêté dans le secteur.La #RATP annonce qu’il s’agit d’une “mesure de sécurité”. La BRI est sur place. (Officiel) #Paris16 pic.twitter.com/RTrFsDAkUJ
— FLASH INFO Ile-de-France (@info_Paris_IDF) April 19, 2024
Earlier, a man was seen at about 11 am (local time) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest. Police had asked the public to avoid the area but provided no further details. Service was interrupted on a nearby metro line for security reasons, the RATP metro company said on X, formerly Twitter.
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It was however unclear whether the incident had any link to the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel. Earlier on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what reports described as an Israeli attack. However, Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation – a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war in the Middle East.
(With agency inputs)
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