国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

French railroad worker finds explosive
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-25 09:02

A railroad worker found a bomb with seven detonators buried in the bed of a commuter line between France and Switzerland on Wednesday, touching off a massive inspection of the French railroad network.

It was the second bomb found in just over a month on a railroad track in France. Bomb disposal experts neutralized the device, which was half-buried under a track in the village of Montieramey, on a train line heading from Paris to Basel, Switzerland, about 105 miles southeast of Paris.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb, which was discovered shortly after noon. The train line extends from Paris to Basel, Switzerland.

France has been on a higher terror alert since the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, Spain, that killed 190 people. Those bombings prompted the tightening of security on train lines around the world, including in France, Greece and Poland.

In the United States, Amtrak has increased police patrols and intensified electronic surveillance of bridges and tunnels. Major cities, including New York and Washington, have also boosted security on their subway systems.

Suspicion for the Spain attacks has focused on an alleged Morocco-based terrorist cell believed linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and on al-Qaeda itself.

Gen. Patrick Hughes, the top intelligence official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said that if the bomb found Wednesday in France "was an al-Qaeda-sponsored effort, one should expect to find other devices or to be struck in more than one way."

France's Interior Ministry said the bomb did not resemble one found in February on a railroad track near Limoges in central France, located with clues from a previously unknown group calling itself AZF. The group claimed to have planted nine bombs along the country's rail network and has threatened to explode them unless it is paid millions of dollars.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said there were "a certain number of elements" that lead officials to believe the two cases may not be the same. A ministry official said it was not immediately clear whether the device found Wednesday was capable of exploding.

Police, terrorism experts and intelligence officials held a crisis meeting at the Interior Ministry. The state-run train authority said it would undertake a massive new inspection, starting with tracks carrying passengers and hazardous freight.

The bomb, which was being examined at a police laboratory, was in a clear plastic box measuring about 8 inches by 8 inches. The box contained nitrate fuel and a flat battery linked to seven detonators and a handmade timing device, the ministry said.

About 10,000 maintenance workers inspected thousands of miles of track after the government publicized the first set of threats early this month.

AZF's threats appeared in at least three letters sent to the offices of Sarkozy and President Jacques Chirac on Dec. 10, Feb. 13 and Feb. 17. The letters, demanding $5.2 million, threatened railway targets.

Information from the group led to the Feb. 21 recovery of a sophisticated explosive device buried in tracks near Limoges in central France.

Tests showed that the Limoges bomb was powerful enough to rupture the track, the government said then. It was made from a mixture of diesel fuel and nitrates and had a sophisticated detonator, judicial officials said.

AZF is not the only previously unknown group issuing threats to France.

Last week, two newspapers received letters addressed to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and signed by the "Servants of Allah the Powerful and Wise." That group also was not previously known to French intelligence officials.

The letters threatened possible terror attacks against France and French interests to punish the country for banning Islamic headscarves in public schools beginning next school year.

French embassies in Muslim countries around the world received the same letters, officials said Tuesday.

Sarkozy has said the letters do not resemble typical messages by Islamic extremist groups.

The device found Wednesday was near the town of Troyes — where Raffarin made a scheduled campaign stop hours later in advance of Sunday's regional elections. Raffarin — who traveled by plane as is his habit — called for calm.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Japan told not to harm Diaoyu isle activists

 

   
 

Taiwan vote dispute drags on

 

   
 

Border police nab thousands of stowaways

 

   
 

Officials banned from posts in enterprises

 

   
 

US refuses to review fingerprinting procedure

 

   
 

Hamas targets Sharon to avenge Yassin

 

   
  Hamas leader warns all Israelis face attack
   
  Blair to hold historic talks with Gaddafi
   
  European Union fines Microsoft $613M
   
  Ex-adviser: Terrorism not urgent for Bush
   
  French railroad worker finds explosive
   
  Boy, 14, stopped with bomb belt
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Chechen link to France threat
   
France: Bin Laden nearly caught in Afghanistan
   
Desperate search for rail bombs
   
US asks France to hunt airline terror suspect
  News Talk  
  "De dao doi zhuo, ce dao gua zhuo" as exemplified by the UN resolution on The Israeli Wall  
Advertisement
         
合川市| 福鼎市| 万年县| 长泰县| 双柏县| 赤城县| 紫阳县| 雷波县| 忻州市| 平南县| 柳林县| 云浮市| 张家川| 通山县| 定边县| 辽宁省| 临沭县| 壤塘县| 花莲市| 凤城市| 周口市| 马尔康县| 句容市| 南澳县| 岳普湖县| 淮南市| 荔浦县| 湄潭县| 扶风县| 奎屯市| 襄汾县| 梅河口市| 岑巩县| 陇西县| 前郭尔| 梅河口市| 海门市| 诸城市| 德安县| 古田县| 齐齐哈尔市|