Bomb Discovered In Paris Department Store

A previously unknown terrorist group claimed responsibility for placing a bomb at a Printemps department store in Paris today. The store is located in the 9th Arrondissement.

The spokeswoman, Melanie Leprettre, said a warning about the explosives had been sent Tuesday morning to the French news agency Agence France-Presse, which alerted the police. She would not confirm reports on French television that five sticks of dynamite had been found.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking from the eastern French city of Strasbourg, said in a live television statement that the devices had no detonators attached. He said that the French police were analyzing the devices, and he called for calm and vigilance.

Security agents at the scene said the explosives, planted at the height of the Christmas shopping season, had been discovered in a rest room on the third floor of the Printemps men’s store, one of three Printemps buildings in the complex. All three stores were evacuated by the police and the area around them, on the elegant Boulevard Haussmann, was cordoned off.

The French television station LCI said a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front claimed in a statement to AFP that it had planted the explosives. The statement said the group was demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan, LCI said. France has about 3,000 troops deployed with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

The French television station LCI said a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front claimed in a statement to AFP that it had planted the explosives. The statement said the group was demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan, LCI said. France has about 3,000 troops deployed with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

French news reports said that the French intelligence services had no previous knowledge of the group.

Guards at the entrance to Printemps said they had received the order to evacuate the store at 11:20 a.m. and that the evacuation had taken about 15 minutes. They declined to say how many people had been evacuated.

The store is located here:


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No doubt that this terrorist group was hoping to threaten the French government into ending its commitment of NATO forces in Afghanistan. The terrorists clearly hoped to replicate the success of bombing in Spain, which not only brought down a pro-US government, but which led to the withdrawal of Spanish forces from the US led coalition in Iraq. The terrorists figured that by warning the French authorities of a pending bomb that they might avoid the stigma associated with terrorists like al Qaeda that attack civilians on purpose. They instead appear to follow the path of the ETA and IRA in calling in bomb attacks to give sufficient warning; the bombs show the seriousness of their demands, but hope to avoid the loss of life.

It's a dangerous game, and one should not be lulled into a false sense of security because these terrorists called in the attacks so that their bombs could be defused. Make no bones about it; the individuals responsible are terrorists, and the bomb they built could have caused loss of life - either to civilians in the store or to law enforcement responding to the bomb threat.