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Letter Bomb With Firework Explodes at Paris Office of IMF, World Bank: Police

An executive assistant was wounded while opening a letter containing a firework that was sent to the Paris offices of the IMF and World Bank.
Image: French police secure the scene of the letter bomb
French police secure the scene of the letter bomb.PHILIPPE WOJAZER / Reuters
/ Source: Reuters

PARIS — A letter containing a firework exploded at the central Paris offices of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday, injuring an assistant who opened it.

The area was evacuated while bomb squad officers checked for other potential devices, a Paris police spokesman told NBC News.

It comes after a militant Greek group, Conspiracy of Fire Cells, claimed responsibility for a letter bomb mailed Wednesday to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Paris police later tweeted that the operation at IMF had ended, saying: "The injured person was taken to hospital for treatment. There's an ongoing investigation by the judicial police."

The victim was an executive assistant who suffered wounds to the hands and face, French news channel BFMTV reported.

The building — on Avenue d'Iena in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement, between the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel tower — houses the main Paris offices of both the World Bank and the IMF.