Bomb found on French railway line

A BOMB was discovered yesterday buried on a French rail line leading to Switzerland.

Bomb disposal experts defused the device, which was half-buried under a track in the village of Montieramey, on the line from Paris to Basel, the Interior Ministry said. It had been spotted by a rail employee.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The Interior Ministry said the device did not resemble bombs described in threats by a mysterious 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 pounds.

The group's threats appeared in at least three letters sent to the offices of President Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in December and February.

Information from the group led to the recovery in February of a sophisticated explosive device buried in tracks near Limoges.

The device, found at 11.35am, was contained in a transparent plastic box and comprised of nitrate fuel and a flat-shaped battery linked to seven detonators, the ministry said.

Tests showed that the Limoges bomb was powerful enough to rupture the track, the government said.

More than 10,000 maintenance workers had inspected thousands of miles of track after the government made the first set of threats public early this month.

The state-run train authority said yesterday it was undertaking a new massive inspection, starting with tracks that carry passengers and hazardous freight.

AZF is not the only mysterious group issuing threats to France, which has been on a higher terror alert since the train bombings in Madrid last week.

Threatening letters signed by the "Servants of Allah the Powerful and Wise", addressed to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, were received last week by two newspapers.

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