One killed in Paris parcel bomb blast

By Laure Bretton and Brian Rohan

PARIS (Reuters) - A parcel bomb killed a legal secretary and injured five other people on Thursday in a central Paris building housing a law firm partly owned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

A secretary in the Gouet-Jenselme law practice died and lawyer Olivier Brane was rushed to hospital with serious injuries, officials said.

The parcel had been addressed to Brane, they said. Sarkozy, a former lawyer, retains a 30 percent stake in the Arnaud Claude and Associates firm which shares the building.

Paris public prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said the explosion had no link to Sarkozy.

Marin said two devices were delivered in the same parcel and exploded shortly before 1 p.m. (12p.m. British time) when the package was opened. The person delivering the parcel had worn a helmet and had not been identified.

The Gouet-Jenselme practice specialises in divorce, insurance and real estate cases.

"It seems the lawyers' practice is mystified by this incident," Marin said. Four other people were injured, apart from Brane, police said, and 10 suffered shock.

A dozen police vans, military personnel and several fire trucks lined the streets near the building in western Paris, a Reuters reporter said. A large area around the lawyers' offices was cordoned off.