France on alert after bomb scare

Police are now patrolling major department stores in Paris

Hundreds of extra police are being deployed in major cities across France after dynamite was planted in a top Paris store, the government has said.

It said security would also be beefed up at train stations and airports over the busy Christmas period.

On Tuesday, five sticks of dynamite were found and later made safe in the Printemps Haussmann department store.

A previously unknown group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front claimed it had placed the explosives.

In a warning letter posted to France's AFP news agency, the group demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.

The store, in the heart of Paris, was evacuated as the area was busy with shoppers ahead of Christmas.

French officials later said the dynamite sticks did not have a detonator, and a cabinet minister said he believed Islamists were not the main suspects.

Police squadrons

The announcement about police reinforcements was made by French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, following a meeting with police and intelligence chiefs.

Printemps Haussmann is a major department store in Paris

Ms Alliot-Marie said some 700 additional police would be patrolling busy public places in major cities over the Christmas period.

"Over the past 10 days we already had an extra 1,500 men and we are adding five mobile police squadrons, of which two will be in Paris," she said.

The minister also announced additional checks on air passengers and luggage and parking restrictions near train stations.

Minister's doubts

In its warning letter posted to France's AFP news agency, the Afghan Revolutionary Front said: "If you do not send someone to intervene before Wednesday 17 December they [the dynamite] will explode."

"Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009 or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time, without warning."

But French Defence Minister Herve Morin said he did not believe Islamists were the main suspects.

"It's obvious that the phraseology [of the warning letter], the dialectic, is not the dialectic of Islamist terror movements," Mr Morin told RTL radio on Wednesday.

"The word 'revolutionary' in the name of the group, the word 'capitalist' used to describe the store, the lack of any reference to Islam or jihad, all of these are reasons why Islamists are not considered the prime suspects," he added.

France has about 2,600 troops serving with Nato in Afghanistan, after reinforcements were sent earlier this year.