CNN World News

Third bomb in three days rocks France

rail

October 8, 1995
Web posted at: 1:50 p.m. EDT (1750 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- The third bomb in as many days exploded in France on Sunday, this time on a railway line near Paris.

The blast shook residents in the western Marly-le-Roi suburb before down, but fortunately no one was injured. Investigators downplayed any connection to a recent string of bombings, saying these explosives were not intended to kill.

French flag

Since July, bombings in France have left seven people dead and wounded more than 130. Most of the recent attacks have featured gas canister bombs loaded with nails and detonated by timing devices. Sunday's bomb was manually activated and came packed in a fire extinguisher.

The attack followed Saturday's bombing of a Toulose police station and a more serious explosion outside a Paris subway station on Friday.

No injuries and little damage were reported in the Toulouse incident, but Friday's explosion hurt 13 people, including two police officers.

train station

An anonymous caller to a French radio station Friday claimed the subway explosion was the work of the "Armed Islamic Group general command," an Algerian group fighting to overthrow the former French colony's military government.

Bomb squad members had been called to the scene outside the Maison Blanche subway station after a mailman spotted a suspicious bag in a garbage can. But the device -- a cooking gas canister -- exploded before they could dismantle it.

repair workers

Friday's blast occurred just hours after the burial of Algerian Khaled Kelkal, 24, suspected of involvement in the wave of bombings in Paris and Lyon.

police car

Kelkal died a week ago in a shoot-out with French paratroopers. He had been the object of a massive manhunt after investigators said they found his fingerprints on an unexploded bomb found along a high-speed train track outside Lyon. Maison Blanche, the name of the subway station where the bomb exploded, is also the name of the bus stop where Kelkal was killed.

French authorities have instituted unprecedented security measures since the bombings began in July, but even sealing the garbage cans along Paris' main streets failed to prevent Friday's bombing.



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AP contributed to this report.