Sao Paulo, Jul 31 (EFE).- The think-tank led by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reported Friday that its headquarters was the target of “a political attack with an explosive device,” adding that “fortunately no one was hurt.”

“The bomb was thrown at the building from a car,” said the note released by the think-tank that Lula founded in 2012 after the end of his second term in office.

The note did not mention whether the bomb caused material damage and said that the matter has been reported to police in the city of Sao Paulo, to security officials of Sao Paulo state, and to the federal Justice Ministry.

The two-paragraph communique added that the Lula Institute “hopes that the perpetrators will be identified and punished.”

Media accounts said the device was not a very powerful explosive, but that it caused some damage to one of the aluminum doors of the institute, located in the Sao Paulo neighborhood of Ipiranga.

The attack came at a time when Brazil is going through a serious political crisis as a result of investigations into a vast corruption scandal in the state oil company Petrobras, which involves dozens of important business owners and executives, and around 50 politicians.

Among the politicians under investigation are leaders of the Workers Party, founded by Lula in 1980, and to which current President Dilma Rousseff also belongs.

Lula is not on the lengthy list, but a federal prosecutor recently opened an investigation to determine whether since leaving office, the former head of state has engaged in influence-peddling to win lucrative overseas contracts for major Brazilian companies.

Lula denies any wrongdoing. EFE