Paris, March 31, (dpa/GNA) – The Paris anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office, suspects a pro-Iranian group may have been involved in the foiled attack on a US bank last weekend.
The group had previously published a propaganda video on social media and named the Paris headquarters of Bank of America as a target, the prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
Investigators said the modus operandi was similar to other attacks in European countries that the previously unknown group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia has claimed responsibility for in recent weeks.
In Paris, police forces prevented an incendiary device from detonating outside the US bank on Saturday night.
Preliminary investigations were launched against three minors and one adult, suspected of being the instigator – on charges of terrorism, the manufacture of incendiary or explosive devices, attempted arson and criminal damage, the public prosecutor’s office said.
The four are to be remanded in custody while the masterminds behind the attempted attack are identified.
French investigators are cooperating with the judicial authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands, where arson attacks were carried out on synagogues in Liège and Rotterdam and on a Jewish school in Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, experts from organizations such as the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) doubt the extent to which a new Islamist group has actually formed.
They believe the incident might be a staged event and part of Iran’s hybrid warfare strategy.
GNA