Two people have life-threatening injuries after the "deliberate attack" on Monday night, Prime Minister Christophe Mirmand said. The third, a child in his early teens, suffered less serious injuries.
This is, as far as I know, the first time in history that something like this has happened in the principality, says Mirmand.
The suspect is still at large and is believed to have fled into France on foot.
According to sources at French BFMTV, AFP and Le Figaro, all the victims were members of the same Ukrainian family, which had been living in Monaco for several years. The man in the family is described as one of Ukraine's richest, an oligarch who is subject to Ukrainian sanctions due to his business activities in the wine and spirits industry in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
"Our preliminary information indicates that a lone man left a package in the building shortly before the three residents on the ground floor arrived. Shortly afterwards, the package exploded," prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said during a press conference in Monaco on Tuesday.
At least two more people were treated for cuts caused by broken glass, according to Thibault. The prosecutor said that a terrorist motive has been ruled out and that a preliminary investigation has been opened into attempted murder and placing an explosive device in a public place.
Monaco's Prince Albert II describes the incident as "a heinous crime" and "a shock to all of Monegasque society."
