French prefect car bomb suspect released

NANTES, France, Jan 22 (AFP) – Police investigating the bombing of a car belonging to the only Muslim holding the top local government post in France on Thursday released a man they had been holding for two days.

The unnamed 60 year-old physiotherapist is the former partner of the ex-wife of Aissa Dermouche, with whom he is known have quarrelled recently. Two other men who were held for questioning have also been released, police said.

Police have been looking into the possibility that Sunday’s attack on Dermouche’s Saab was the result of a private grudge rather than an act of Islamist or far-right terrorism.

The Algerian-born business school head from the western city of Nantes was named last week as prefect – or governor – of the department of Jura near the Swiss border, becoming one of the very few French Muslims to have been promoted to the rank.

The car-bombing provoked condemnation from across the political spectrum, amid fears it was a symptom of increasing tensions with France’s five million-strong Muslim community.

Police said the device which was placed on the bonnet of the car was of a highly primitive nature and had a simple fuse rather than a timer. No-one was hurt in the attack which took place shortly before dawn.

Subject: France news