French police arrested a 17-year-old suspect early Saturday attempting to detonate a homemade explosive device outside a Bank of America office on rue La Boétie in Paris's 8th arrondissement. No injuries were reported, and an anti-terrorism investigation has been opened, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez suggesting possible ties to the Middle East conflict.
Around 3:30 a.m., anti-crime brigade (BAC) officers arrested the hooded suspect—a minor born in Senegal and residing in Seine-Saint-Denis—as he tried to ignite the device in front of the closed Bank of America branch, located a few streets from the Champs-Élysées. The makeshift explosive consisted of a five-liter canister containing a liquid believed to be hydrocarbon fuel, taped to a firework mortar tube with 650 grams (23 ounces) of powder and an ignition system.
The suspect claimed in custody that he was dropped off by a vehicle, recruited via Snapchat for 600 euros, with a second person acting as lookout who fled on foot. He remains detained. France's National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office has charged him with attempted arson or dangerous damage linked to terrorism, manufacturing an incendiary or explosive device in connection with terrorism, possession and transport of such a device for terrorism-related damage, and terrorist conspiracy. The probe involves Paris judicial police and France's domestic intelligence service (DGSI), with full analysis of the device underway at the Paris police forensics lab.
Bank of America head of global media relations Jessica Oppenheim said the company is aware of the incident and communicating with authorities. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised the police intervention on X for stopping 'a violent action of a terrorist nature,' and on BFMTV linked it to similar recent plots in the Netherlands and other European countries claimed by a group referencing the Middle East conflict, with investigators exploring an Iranian connection amid fires targeting American or Israeli sites.
