The founder of the Russian private military company Wagner has accused France of being behind the bomb.
The head of a Russian cultural centre in the Central African Republic (CAR) has been wounded by a parcel bomb in the capital, Bangui, Russian news agency TASS reported quoting a Russian embassy spokesman.
The spokesman said Dmitry Syty, head of the “Russian House” culture centre, had opened a mail bomb addressed to him on Friday morning.
The package from an anonymous sender exploded, injuring him seriously. He has since been taken to the hospital, according to Reuters and AFP news agencies.
The embassy said it had tightened its security measures following the attack, reported TASS which has called it “an assassination attempt”.
Meanwhile, the head of Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Friday urged Moscow to declare France a “sponsor of terrorism” after a parcel bomb wounded a Russian official in CAR.
“I have already requested the Russian foreign ministry to initiate the procedure to declare France a state sponsor of terrorism,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying in a statement released by his company, Concord.
In recent years, Russia has increasingly become a partner of choice for military cooperation in some former French colonies in Central and West Africa being attacked by armed groups in the face of rising anti-French sentiments there.
That has led to diplomatic tensions especially in CAR, Burkina Faso and Mali.
