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| Europe |
| Bomb Found on Rail Line in Northeastern France |
| 2004-03-24 |
| A bomb was discovered on a rail line in northeastern France today, the second explosive device found since an obscure terrorist entity began threatening in December to attack France’s railroads unless it was paid millions of dollars. The bomb, which was neutralized by a French bomb squad, was half buried between the tracks near the town of Montieramey on the rail line linking Paris with the Swiss city of Basel, France’s Interior Ministry said in a statement. France’s prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, on a campaign visit near where the bomb was found, urged the public to remain calm, saying it was not yet clear what danger the device posed. The Interior Ministry said in its statement that an employee with the state rail company, SNCF, found the bomb around noon roughly 120 miles southeast of Paris between the Troyes and Vendeuvre train stations. The bomb contained nitrate fuel in a plastic container with seven detonators attached to a timing device. The statement said one wire on the device was disconnected. Sounds amueturish! AZF began threatening to attack the railways in mid-December with a series of letters to Mr. Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The letters demanded more than $5 million to prevent an attack. Investigators do not yet know whether AZF is an individual or a group. To back up its claim, AZF directed authorities last month to a bomb hidden on the tracks that also contained nitrate fuel in a plastic container attached to detonators. The Interior Ministry’s statement, however, said the circumstances of the latest bomb’s discovery "did not correspond to what was in the letters signed by AZF." It did not elaborate and Interior Ministry officials declined to comment. It was not clear whether the authorities received a tip about the presence of the bomb discovered today. Last month, AZF demanded that a helicopter drop more than $5 million in ransom money on a plastic tarpaulin on a field near the town of Montargis, 65 miles south of Paris. But visibility was poor and the agents were unable to locate the spot. Authorities do not believe the AZF threat is related to other terrorist threats against the country from Islamic extremists. Earlier this month, French officials said a previously unknown Islamic group calling itself Servants of Allah the Powerful and Wise had threatened French interests in France and abroad in copies of a letter addressed to Prime Minister Raffarin. Similar letters have also been received by French embassies in several African and Muslim countries. There is a Hokkien word widely used in here (in Singapore) which is ’kaisu’. It translates to ’me too’ in a derivative copycat sense of following a trend to get noticed. I think we are and will see a spate of ’me too’ bombs from fringe left groups and various nutcases (often not distinguishable) |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #2 Could these railroad bombs really be planted by the French government? After Madrid, it seems like a good way to let your people know you're successfully tracking the "bad guys." |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-03-24 9:24:32 PM |
| #1 Whoops! I did check to see if this was already posted and I missed seeing the earlier post. Go ahead and delete it. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-03-24 6:38:52 PM |