An international hunt was underway on Friday for a Ukrainian woman with a snakelike tattoo who is accused of carrying out a bomb attack in Monaco earlier this week, according to officials in Monaco and Germany.
The woman, identified as Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, attempted to kill three people — a man, a woman and a child — after they walked home Monday night from dinner at a seaside restaurant, according to Morgan Raymond, Monaco’s deputy prosecutor.
After waiting on a bench for them, she took a parcel bomb out of her tote bag and placed it on the steps of the building where the victims were headed, Mr. Raymond said Friday at a news briefing.
“The individual turned around to confirm that the three victims were on the steps and then detonated the bomb using a remote control,” he added.
The explosion had no known precedent in Monaco, its head of government said this week. Monaco is a tiny sovereign state on the Mediterranean coast that is smaller than New York’s Central Park, and is better known as a tax haven and for hosting an annual Formula 1 race.
After the attack, the woman fled to Germany through France, Italy and other European countries in a rented car with German license plates, Mr. Raymond said.
Police in southern Germany said in a statement Friday that officers had searched a car and an apartment near Frankfurt rented by Ms. Berezovska, who remained on the run.
“Evidence was seized and will be handed over” to the authorities in Monaco, the German statement added.
Monaco has issued an international arrest warrant and an Interpol notice for Ms. Berezovska, noting that she has a snakelike tattoo on her right arm. Ms. Berezovska is accused of attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with a criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy, according to the Interpol notice and Mr. Raymond.
She had surveilled the victims’ residence for days before the attack, most often disguised as a man, which initially led investigators to look for a male perpetrator, Mr. Raymond said.
The blast, Mr. Raymond said, “stirred strong emotions among the Monegasque population” because, on top of injuring several people, “the modus operandi of this assassination attempt was deeply shocking.”
Five people suffered severe or light injuries from the explosion, including a woman who was in critical condition, Mr. Raymond said. The German authorities said in their statement that the attack targeted Ukrainian citizens, but their counterparts in Monaco have declined to comment on the victims’ identity. Outlets in France, Monaco and Ukraine said one of the victims was a Ukrainian businessman, but The New York Times has not verified that assertion.
Two other people suspected of helping Ms. Berezovska were briefly placed in custody earlier this week, Mr. Raymond said. They were released because there was no evidence that they were involved, he said.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting from Berlin.
