Twelve people, six of them police officers, were injured after a Molotov cocktail was hurled into and exploded at a restaurant in the French capital.
Three people were airlifted to a hospital after suffering severe burns from the fire that started as a result in Aubervilliers, a commune located in the northern part of Paris, around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, the day of parliamentary elections in France..
Six police officers suffered minor burns as they tried to evacuate the building. Fifty firefighters arrived on the scene with 15 trucks to fight the fire.
Some media outlets reported that the staff stopped an attempted robbery and the suspected robber threw the bomb at the restaurant while trying to escape.
Police have not identified a motive for the crime, however, and it was not clear whether the suspect was in custody.
“The restaurant is part of a five-story building,” an emergency services source said. “Everything is being done to contain the blaze, and search for other victims.”
France has spent 14 months under a state of emergency as a result of several terrorist attacks that Daesh and al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for.
France’s new President Emmanuel Macron, however, wants to end the state of emergency soon in favor of making some powers under the state of emergency — such as property searches without a warrant — part of common law.
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