Athens News - France charges man over failed attack on US bank

The plot thwarted before dawn on Saturday came more than a month after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked regional conflict, sending energy markets into a tailspin.

A source following the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man in his early twenties from a Paris suburb had been charged with "terrorist criminal conspiracy" and remanded in custody.

French counter-terrorism prosecutors suspect he asked teenagers to place an explosive device outside the US financial institution near the Champs-Elysees.

Contacted by AFP, his lawyer did not wish to comment.

The investigation suggested he recruited three minors in the night of Thursday to Friday, offering to pay them 500 to 1,000 euros for the job, the National Counterterrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) said earlier in the day.

After a failed attempt that night, "two of three minors tried again the following night", it said.

Police on Saturday arrested a 17-year-old who had placed the explosive device near the bank and was about to light it.

The PNAT says the incident could be linked to a little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran, though no firm link has yet been established.

The Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Police had on Monday last week been informed of a HAYI propaganda video on social media "specifically targeting the French headquarters" of Bank of America, the PNAt said.

The adult suspect told investigators "a third party, presenting themself as an intermediary, had approached him via a social network's messaging service to have the explosive device planted as part of a personal vendetta", it said.

"The explosive device was allegedly delivered to his home by a person he did not know," it added.

C.Katsaros--AN-GR