Explosives found in Paris department store

PARIS: French police discovered five sticks of dynamite on Tuesday in a Paris department store, forcing the evacuation of hordes of tourists and shoppers at the height of the Christmas shopping season.
    
Police cordoned off Printemps Haussmann store and the city's best known shopping boulevard was blocked as police defused the explosives, but the interior ministry said there was no detonator.
    
A group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front had earlier sent a letter the French media, warning of "several bombs" in the upscale store and demanding that France pull its troops from Afghanistan by the end of February.
    
French anti-terrorism police said that one bomb had been placed in the third-floor toilets at the Printemps store and that others had been hidden elsewhere.
    
"If you do not send someone to intervene before Wednesday December 17, they will explode," said the letter, which was taken by police investigating the explosives.
    
"Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009 or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time, without warning," the letter said.
    
Police used sniffer dogs to locate the explosives found on the third floor of the department store.
    
Speaking at the scene, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said, "From what we know so far, this was not a device that was intended to explode. We are investigating to find the perpetrators."
    
An official described the device as old sticks of dynamite fastened together with a piece of cord.