Busts In France Rail Bomb Probe

Anti-terrorist police detained three suspects in connection with an investigation into a mysterious group's threats to bomb French railways, police said Friday.

The suspects, two men and a woman, were taken into custody Thursday in Paris and the suburban Val-de-Marne region, police said. They were being held for questioning at the headquarters of French anti-terrorist police.

An obscure group that calls itself AZF has threatened to detonate bombs at French railway targets unless it is paid millions of dollars.

On Thursday, the group issued a cryptic letter threatening an attack to surpass the March 11 terror bombings that killed 190 people in Madrid, Spain. But the group, which previously claimed to have mined railway tracks, also announced it was suspending its operations so it can perfect them.

A bomb was found Wednesday half-buried on a train track near the town of Troyes, some 100 miles southeast of Paris, triggering a massive inspection of France's rail network.

It was the second bomb discovered hidden under tracks in just over a month — and the second inspection of thousands of miles of track. The first bomb, found in February, was claimed by AZF. There was no claim of responsibility for the one discovered Wednesday by an employee of the state-run train authority.

AZF had threatened to detonate nine bombs planted in the rail network unless it was paid sums of $4 million and 1 million euros — worth $1.2 million.

AZF has not carried out attacks, but its threats to blow up rail targets have heightened concerns — laid bare by the Madrid train bombings — about the vulnerability of European public transport systems.

In the two letters sent Thursday, addressed to President Jacques Chirac and the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, the group said that "there are currently no bombs capable of functioning on the French rail network."

"With the experience gained these last weeks and now conscious of its technological, logistic and other weaknesses, AZF suspends its action during the time needed to remedy this," the letter said.

The Interior Ministry made a copy of the letter available.

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

Investigators have carried on a cat-and-mouse game with AZF, using a special phone line and newspaper classified ads with code names like "My Big Wolf." The investigators sign off as "Suzy."

The prime minister confirmed in mid-March that there had recently been "several contacts" with AZF. And state-run France-2 television reported Wednesday that a rendezvous had been planned for last weekend but AZF apparently did not follow up.

Sarkozy's top aide told France-Info radio that while there were similarities between the device found Wednesday and the bomb found in February, there also were big differences.

The first was fully buried and "absolutely invisible" while the latest was half-buried, Claude Gueant said on France-Info radio. Also, the timing device of the first bomb was far more sophisticated than the one found Wednesday - the type used in kitchen appliances, he said.

"At this stage, it is difficult to draw a firm conclusion," Gueant told France-Info.

Tests showed that the first bomb was powerful enough to rupture the track, the government said at the time. Similar tests were being performed on the latest device.

AZF is not the only mysterious group issuing threats to France.

Letters signed by the "Servants of Allah, the Powerful and Wise," addressed to Raffarin, were received last week by two newspapers.

The letters threatened possible terror attacks against France and French interests to punish the country for a new law banning Islamic head scarves in public schools.

French embassies in Muslim countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia received the same letter - sent March 15 from a post office near the Louvre Museum, judicial officials said Tuesday.

Sarkozy has said the letters don't resemble typical messages by Islamic extremist groups. Authorities are looking into whether they could have been sent by an extreme-right group masquerading as Islamic militants.

France's ban on head scarves in the classroom became law this month, but is not to be enforced until the new school year in September. France has a substantial Muslim population, in part because of its former colonial holdings.

Terrorist threats are not new to France. France has faced separatist movements in Brittany and the island of Corsica. And on two occasions, in 1976 and 1994, Air France flights were hijacked by Middle Eastern terrorists.