Lyon Bombing Suspect Confesses to Attack, ISIS Allegiance After Explosive Ingredients Found

Lyon bombing suspect Mohamed Hichem M. has confessed to the terror bombing that injured 13 on Friday, and according to French television, has pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State.

While Mohamed Hichem M., who was arrested shortly after the blast at a bakery in historic French city Lyon which injured 13 but saw no fatalities was reported to have been very reluctant to speak to investigators, but since the investigation was transferred to the Parisian counter-terror police the suspect has been more forthcoming, Le Progress reports.

The Lyon area local paper states the 24-year-old Algerian national — who as Breitbart London reported this week is an illegal migrant in France on an expired visa — has now confessed to the attack. The statement follows the discovery of bomb precursor ingredients in the home Mohamed Hichem M. shared with his family, and internet history of searches related to bomb-making and Islamic Jihad.

French police speak of some “inconsistencies” in the case, including the high level of sophistication with the creation of the bomb detonator — on which Mohamed Hichem M’s DNA was found — contrasted with the fact a very low explosive charge was used. This means that despite being packed with bolts and screws, the bomb that was delivered in a paper bag did not kill any bystanders when it exploded in a Lyon bakery, even though it blew out windows in the near vicinity.

Police reports have also said the suspect did not have any previous suspicion of radicalisation, did not on first appearance fit the Islamic terror profile, and his precise motivation remains unclear. France24 states the suspect ordered explosive ingredients, ball bearings, and electrical components in March and April.

Despite having told investigators that he was a “lone wolf” with no help in launching the attack, French BFMTV has now reported Mohamed Hichem M. has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. France has sustained a series of Islamic State planned or inspired attacks in recent years, the most recent being the Strasbourg Christmas Market shooting in 2018.

Jihadist Cherif Chekatt, who supported the Islamic State, opened fire on a Christmas market in Strasbourg killing three and injuring a dozen others before being gunned down by police himself. The most deadly terror attack on French soil in recent memory was the Bataclan massacre in 2015, where a coordinated strike by a Jihadist cell attacked a music venue, systematically executing concert goers in the panic to escape gunfire.

Some 130 were killed, and the French state has recognised and compensated a further 2,625 victims. More than 250 people have been killed in Islamist terror attacks in France since 2015.