Police hunt fugitive in Monaco after 3 wounded in ‘deliberate explosion’

Three people were seriously injured, two of them critically, on Monday in an explosion at a residential building in Monaco, which authorities described as a “deliberate” act.

A source close to the investigations who asked not to be named told Agence France-Presse that one of those wounded was a Ukrainian oligarch, Vadym Yermolaiev.

The territory’s Minister of State Christophe Mirmand initially told Agence France-Presse the blast at a residential building appeared to be “an attack”, but later dropped that term, describing it as a “deliberate explosion”.

An aide to France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police were working “to find the perpetrator, who has fled”.

The explosion struck at around 9pm local time in a residential building on a street along the border with France.

Public prosecutor Stephane Thibault said a suspect had left a bag or package in the building’s lobby before leaving.

Nothing appeared for the moment to indicate why the building might have been targeted, he said.