The suspect in the Lyon bombing finally confessed after 48 hours of intense questioning by French police, admitting that he planted the device that left 13 injured on May 24.

The 24 year-old IT student admitted to fabricating the parcel bomb, stating that he planned the attack weeks ago. He claims to be a lone wolf attacker, with no outside assistance.

In late March, he bought the explosive triacetone and steel ball bearings, before purchasing electric wiring in early April. He bought a remote control device and batteries two weeks later in May. It was one of these purchases that gave the police the critical clue.

“We have enough evidence including his DNA to get him,” a police source told Reuters

Jihad documents found

Investigators also searched his computer, finding documents about jihad. The suspect reportedly admitted having links to jihadist groups during his interrogation.

According to French law, he can be detained without charge until Friday morning. The police are currently still questioning his parents and one of his brothers.

Bomb planted in heart of historic city

The package bomb was placed in front of a bakery near a busy corner of two commercial streets at around 17:30 pm (1530 GMT) on a sunny Friday evening.

The area was promptly evacuated and cordoned off by police and emergency services.

The blast occurred on the narrow strip of land between the Saone and Rhone rivers in the historic centre of the southeast city. Lyon is the third-biggest city in France with a population of 2.3 million.

"There was an explosion and I thought it was a car crash," Eva, a 17-year-old student who was about 15 metres (50 feet) from the blast site, told .

"There were bits of electric wire near me, and batteries and bits of cardboard and plastic. The windows were blown out," she added.

“I was working, serving customers, and all of a sudden there was a huge ‘boom’,” said Omar Ghezza, a baker who works nearby.

“We thought it had something to do with renovation work,” he said.

France on high alert

France has been on high alert owing to a wave of deadly jihadist terror attacks since the country's worst such attack on November 2015 in Paris. Over 250 people have been killed in the terror attacks.

The last was in December, when five people were killed and 11 wounded at an attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, eastern France.

The last package bomb in France dates back to December 2007, when a blast in front of a Paris law office killed one person and injured another.

Police never determined who carried out that attack.