French railway bomb update

Three people have been arrested in the recent incident of bombs planted on a French railway. Police are saying that they are members of a group being called AZF. There are plenty of news sources reporting this, but nobody saying who AZF is. I had to do a little digging to find out that AZF was a petrochemical factory that exploded on September 21, 2001. It looks to me as though they called that an accident probably because it occurred so close to the WTC attack, to avoid more widespread panic, and perhaps simply because they didn't have enough evidence at the time, and no one claiming responsibility. Reports by the first part of October were including some speculation that it might not have been an accident.

A group calling itself AZF threatened earlier this year to blow up parts of France's vast railway network if it was not paid about four million euros in cash.

It also said it had planted 10 bombs on the tracks and in February directed police to a device it had hidden to prove it was serious.

The group suspended its threat on Thursday but said it could one day mount an attack more lethal than the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 190 people.

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