PARIS - Paris city workers discovered the dismembered lower torso of a woman in a bag in a popular park in the northeast of the French capital on Monday, security sources said.

The gruesome discovery was made in a wooded area of the Buttes-Chaumont park, a popular spot for families and joggers in the 19th district of Paris, leading police to open a murder inquiry.

A source close to the case said the body part appeared to be the pelvic area of a woman.

The mayor of the 19th district, François Dagnaud confirmed that it was park workers who had found the remains.

The park had been closed off for investigations.

The news comes four months after the abduction and murder of a 12-year-old girl caused shock and outrage in Paris.

The victim was sexually assaulted and murdered after school in a crime branded as “evil” by President Emmanuel Macron.

The case kicked off a fierce political row because the alleged killer was a mentally disturbed Algerian woman who was in France illegally and the subject of an expulsion order. AFP