Parisian police discover dynamite in store

POLICE acting on a warning yesterday found a bundle of dynamite inside a Paris department store at the height of the Christmas season, as a group demanding that France withdraw from Afghanistan claimed responsibility.

Sticks of dynamite tied together but without a detonator were found in the Printemps department store, a favoured shopping destination for tourists.

Interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the explosives appeared “relatively old”. Police said they were found in the third floor restroom of the menswear department. Five sticks were found together, officials said.

“There was no risk of explosion,” said the minister.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has increased France’s troop levels in Afghanistan, stressed he would not bend to terrorism. France has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan.

“We need to be vigilant about terrorism. We cannot compromise with terrorists,” he said.