Dynamite found in Paris store

France began beefing up security across the country Tuesday after an unknown group placed dynamite in a Paris department store and threatened more attacks if French troops were not pulled out of Afghanistan.

Police located and made safe the five sticks of dynamite placed in a washroom in the giant Printemps store on Boulevard Haussmann, one of Europe's busiest shopping streets.

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The boulevard was cordoned off for several hours while hordes of Christmas shoppers and tourists were evacuated.

A group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front sent a letter to AFP warning of "several bombs" in the upscale store and demanding that France withdraw its 2,600 troops by the end of February.

Paris

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said police reinforcements would be deployed in Paris and major Afghan Revolutionary Front following the discovery of the dynamite.
Executives from Printemps Haussmann, which has 2,000 employees and gets about 100,000 customers a day, were due to take part in the midday meeting in Paris along with other store heads.


Paris