More than 10 people were wounded, some seriously, after a grenade was thrown into a bar in the city of Grenoble, France.
The incident occurred shortly after 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) at the bar in the Olympic Village neighborhood, built when the city hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the criminal act of unprecedented violence that took place in a shop in the Olympic Village district, which caused more than 10 injuries, several of them serious,” Grenoble Mayor Eric Piolle said late on Wednesday. “I thank the rescue and security forces for their rapid intervention.”
Some in a serious condition: reports
Isere Prefect Catherine Seguin said some of those wounded in the city in southeastern France were in serious condition, newspaper Le Dauphine Libere reported.
“Someone came in and threw a grenade, apparently without saying a word, and ran away,” Deputy Prosecutor François Touret-de-Courcy told journalists at the scene, where emergency workers had cordoned off the area.
‘Act of extreme violence’
“There’s nothing to make us think it’s linked to terrorism,” he said, calling it an “act of extreme violence” that “may be linked to a settling of scores.”
Investigators are looking at a possible link to drug trafficking, he said, adding that some accounts indicated the suspect, whose whereabouts is not yet known, was also in possession of a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
French Health Minister condemns attack, to visit Grenoble Hospital
French Health Minister Yannick Neuder, who also condemned the attack in a social media post, is set to visit victims at Grenoble University Hospital on Thursday morning, according to a prefectural statement.
Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau will also make an already scheduled visit to Grenoble on Friday.
Edited by: Sean M. Sinico
