(The Associated Press circulated the following story on March 25.)
PARIS — A mysterious group that claimed to have planted bombs on the French railroad network announced Thursday that it is suspending its terror threats while it improves its ability to carry them out.
In two letters, addressed to President Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the group, which calls itself AZF, said that “there are currently no bombs capable of functioning on the French rail network.”
“With the experience gained these last weeks and now conscious of its technological, logistic and other weaknesses, AZF suspends its action for the time needed to remedy this,” the one-page typed letter said.
The Interior Ministry said it received the letter Thursday morning, and made a copy available to the press.
The letter came a day after a bomb with seven detonators was found half-buried on a train track near the town of Troyes, southeast of Paris, triggering a massive inspection of the tracks. The letter carried the logo “AZF” and an arrow in the top left corner.
It was the second bomb discovered hidden under tracks in just over a month — and the second inspection of thousands of miles of track.
AZF had threatened to detonate nine bombs planted in the rail network unless it was paid sums of $4 million and $1.2 million.
In the letter, AZF also included a cryptic threat, saying that if the money were not paid when asked, “France will surpass without glory the sad Spanish records,” a reference to the March 11 bombings of four trains in the Spanish capital that killed 190 people.
“So understand well that we in no way renounce obtaining the sum … that you should consider as a subsidy,” the letter said.
The first bomb, found in February, was claimed by AZF. The letter did not say whether it planted the second device discovered Wednesday by an employee of the state-run train authority.
In the letter, the group said it held no grievances against the French government.
“Our true objective is to strike a decisive blow against the depraved spirit that prevails today in most human actions,” the letter said.
France has been on a higher terror alert since the bombings in Madrid. Those bombings prompted the tightening of security on train lines around the world, including in France, Greece and Poland.
In the United States, Amtrak has increased police patrols and intensified electronic surveillance of bridges and tunnels. Major cities, including New York and Washington, have also boosted security on their subway systems.
Suspicion for the Spain attacks has focused on an alleged Morocco-based terrorist cell believed linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and on al-Qaida itself.