Dakar rally car blast caused by improvised explosive device - source

FILE PHOTO: Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 2 - Al Wajh - Neom, Saudi Arabia - January 6, 2020 Sodicars Racing car driven by Philippe Boutron and Mayeul Barbet in action during stage two REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - An explosion under a support vehicle at the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia that injured French race driver Philippe Boutron on Dec. 30 was caused by an improvised explosive device, a French source familiar with the investigation said on Friday.

Confirming a report by RTL radio, the source told Reuters that investigators had found traces of explosives on Boutron's wrecked vehicle in Saudi Arabia.

French anti-terrorism prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into the explosion in January.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said that there were suspicions of a terrorist attack, but Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said on Jan. 8 that an initial investigation into the blast had not raised any criminal suspicions.

A second explosion at the Dakar rally, under a truck belonging to the team of Camelia Liparoti on Dec. 31, is also under investigation by French police.

(Reporting by Tangi Salaun and GV De Clercq; Editing by Kevin Liffey, William Maclean)