French alert over rail bomb scare

French police are in the process of checking every kilometre of railway track in the entire country, following threats by a terror group that it was going to blow up sections of the track. The Independent newspaper reports that police and politicians are taking the threat, which is being made by a group called AZF, “completely seriously”. Officers removed and detonated one time-bomb found on track near Limoges two weeks ago. The group claims to have planted 10 further time-bombs on various sections of track around the country’s 30,000-kilometre network, and that they would explode them if they are not paid a ransom, reported to be $5 million. The newspaper states that police have already tried once to deliver the money to the group on Monday night, but that they could not find the exact location that had been specified. Despite the ongoing searches for the bombs and members of the group, French trains are reported to be running normally at present. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad