French police have evacuated Saint Etienne Cathedral in Toulouse, France this morning after a suspected bomb was left at the altar. The threat has been safely neutralized by French authorities and there are no reported injuries.
The suspicious package was delivered by an unknown man to the steps of the altar during Friday morning mass. According to local newspaper, La Depeche, Simon D’Artigue, the cathedral’s chief cleric, tried unsuccessfully to stop him as he fled the scene.
Bomb disposal units were dispatched to manage the scene. The package is suspected to be a homemade bomb that failed to explode.
“Thanks to the rapid intervention of the bomb disposal services, the police operation in Toulouse is over. No casualties,” said a statement tweeted by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. The alert advising citizens to avoid central Toulouse has also been lifted.
The French police are actively seeking out the suspect via video surveillance and the police hunt is ongoing.
This threat is not isolated as French churches have been a target for extremists in the past, including the 2020 knife attack in Nice and the murder of a priest in Normandy in 2016.
This attack also comes ahead of the first round of voting for France’s presidential election on April 10th.
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