Explosives found in Paris store

[Tomek]

I just receive this on my phone...

_http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7785440.stm

Explosives found in Paris store

Five sticks of explosives have been found and made safe in a top Paris department store, French police say.

The Printemps Haussmann store was evacuated and cordoned off, and police directed traffic away from the area.

AFP said it had received a written tip-off signed by a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front warning of "several bombs" placed in the store.

Officials said the explosives, planted in washrooms on the first and second floors, did not include detonators.

The store, on the city's central Boulevard Haussmann, was evacuated as the area was busy with shoppers ahead of Christmas.

The Afghan Revolutionary Front is a previously unknown group.

AFP reported that it was calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan by February next year. The bombs were supposed to go off on Wednesday, the group said.

France has about 2,600 troops serving with Nato in Afghanistan, though President Nicolas Sarkozy has said more will be sent.

I live in Paris, I'll keep you in touch about what will happend next.

 

[Adaryn]

Here's the warning message sent by the "mysterious" and unknown FRA, as published by the AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i3N69_6FUSKrhZfuJ7lUsVihflsA:

"We are the Revolutionary Afghan Front", says the letter, written in a somewhat approximative French ( ). "We have planted several bombs in the Printemps Homme Haussmann (Man section of the Printemps store), one of which is in the 3rd storey in the toilets behind the flush, you'll find it (in the first toilet when you enter), if you don't send someone to stop it before Wednesday the 17th, they'll explode.
Transmit this message to your President, that he withdraws his troops from our country (Afghanistan) before the end of February 2009 otherwise we'll act again in your big capitalist stores and this time without warning".

Then the message goes on about other explosives that they planted in the Women section of the store.

Nothing like a little bit of fear-mongering propaganda before X-mas (in the midst of teachers and student protests against the reform (= destruction) of education)

 

[T.C.]

Another hit for sott?

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24048046-5001028,00.html

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/163218-Connecting-the-Dots-A-New-Cold-War-Meets-Chinese-Lanterns-Flying-in-the-Wind-of-Change

 

[Adaryn]

Another hit for sott?
(snip)
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/163218-Connecting-the-Dots-A-New-Cold-War-Meets-Chinese-Lanterns-Flying-in-the-Wind-of-Change

Indeed!

July 18th: 28 kg of Semtex explosive are stolen. Official story: Some bad guys have taken advantage of the security weaknesses and stolen the explosives.

SOTT's alternative hypothesis: French citizens won't accept an invasion of Iran but a terror event à la 9-11 and the WTC attributed to an Islamist terrorist organization linked to Iran should change the French opinion right quick!

 

[Cyre2067]

Oddly reminds me of this story: _http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/12/oregon.bank.bomb/index.html

A bomb exploded at a Woodburn, Oregon, bank branch early Friday evening, killing a police officer and injuring the town's police chief and a state bomb technician, Oregon State Police said.

Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell was listed in critical condition at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Christine Decker.

The name of the slain police officer has not yet been released. There was no immediate word on the bomb tech's identity or condition.

The three were investigating a suspicious device at a West Coast Bank branch when the bomb went off, police said. Police had brought the device inside after it was discovered outside, bank president Bob Sznewajs told CNN.

Sznewajs said that two bank employees who were in another part of the bank when the bomb exploded suffered very minor injuries, one who may have been hit by some flying debris and another who was "bothered by the sound."

"I know that all of our employees are fine," Sznewajs said, adding that none of his employees had been allowed back into the front portion of the building, where the bomb exploded, "so we don't know what it's like in there."

"I heard a loud kaboom," Robert Currie, who was across the street, told CNN affiliate KATU. "Well, I'm a Vietnam veteran and that was no gunshot -- that was definitely a bomb. So I come running outside to see what was going on and the interior lights of the bank are all out. And the next thing, it's just swarming with police cars, two fire trucks and three or four ambulances."

Several emergency vehicles surrounded the building, according to news video from the scene, but the exterior of the building did not appear damaged.

Sznewajs said police were called to investigate a suspicious package Friday afternoon. Police gave the all clear, Sznewajs said, but a bank employee saw something in a bush outside the bank, and police were called back.

Sznewajs said he was not at the bank at the time of the incident, but he said his employees told him authorities "scanned it outside, then brought it in."

His employees had left the front of the building by that point, Sznewajs said, and it was not clear why the device was taken into the building.

Sznewajs said there were "four or five" employees in the bank when the incident began and approximately the same number of customers. None were in the front of the bank when the explosion took place.

Earlier Friday, police investigated a bomb threat called into a nearby Wells Fargo Bank branch but found nothing, Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Unger said. The call came in before 10:30 a.m., Unger said, and the branch closed at 2 p.m.

The Wells branch and the West Coast branch are less than 150 feet apart.

Woodburn is in the Willamette Valley about 30 miles south of Portland

 

[Tomek]

Here's my report :

2 days after the bomb were discovered, nobody's talking about it anymore. The mass media "invited" the population to stay calm, and the CEO of the Printemps store declared something about his store, like "it's the most secured building of Paris" but he's obviously interested by the sales in this special period of the year.

The fear-mongering manuever worked : the few people with whom I could talk are scared. But since there's no new evidences or informations about who did this and why, even if they're scared, they don't talk about it anymore. It's pretty stange, you know... It's like if everyone wanted to talk about what happened, but with the lack of new "material" to discuss, they just deport the fear.

I don't know if I'm clear, thanks to my english skills and google translation.

 

[anart]

It was very clear, Polonel. Merci!