The bombing outside a synagogue on Oct. 3, 1980, killed four people and injured 20. The bombing outside a synagogue on Oct. 3, 1980, killed four people and injured 20. (Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images)

A University of Ottawa sociology professor has been arrested in Gatineau, Que., in relation to a bombing that killed four people near a synagogue in Paris almost three decades ago.

Canada's Department of Justice confirmed that 56-year-old Hassan Diab was arrested Thursday, Agence-France Presse reported.

Diab, a part-time sociology professor at the University of Ottawa who also taught at Carleton University, is a suspect in a bombing on Oct. 3, 1980, outside the Copernic Street synagogue in Paris. The explosion killed four people, three French and one Israeli.

According to Agence-France Presse, French police, who are conducting the investigation, accuse Diab, a Lebanese-Canadian, of building the explosive device hidden inside a motorcycle parked a few metres from the synagogue.

RCMP Cpl. J.J. Hainey confirmed that the RCMP arrested a man Thursday morning as part of a French investigation and he is being held in custody pending the outcome of an extradition hearing, but he would not confirm the man's identity.

The RCMP are helping French police with the investigation under a mutual legal assistance treaty, Hainey said.

An international warrant had been issued for Diab's arrest. However, Diab had claimed earlier in an interview with a French newspaper that he is innocent and the case is one of mistaken identity.