One person was slightly injured on Thursday when a booby-trapped parcel exploded at the Paris office of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), police said.

The device appeared to be “a firework, or a big firecracker, at any rate something more or less handmade, and certainly not in any way a bomb,” Paris police chief Michel Cadot told press near the scene of the incident.

It appeared that the package had been sent by post and exploded when an employee opened it, Cadot said.

The victim suffered minor injuries to their face and blast injuries to their eardrums, while two other people present in the same room were unharmed, he added.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the organization was “working closely” with French authorities to investigate the incident.

“I condemn this cowardly act of violence and reaffirm the IMF’s resolve to continue our work in line with our mandate,” Lagarde said.

French President Francois Hollande said authorities would go “all the way” to find those responsible.

The incident took place a day after a package containing explosives was found in the post office of the German Finance Ministry in Berlin.

A leftist militant group in Greece claimed responsibility for the Berlin parcel. Officials in Athens could not verify the claim but confirmed that the parcel had been sent from Greece. (DPA)