March 24, 2004

PARIS (AP) - A French railroad worker found an explosive device buried in the bed of a railway line heading from France to Switzerland on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.

Bomb disposal experts neutralized the device, which was half-buried under a track in the village of Montieramey, on a train line heading from Paris to Basel, Switzerland, the ministry said in a statement. It was discovered shortly after noon.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The Interior Ministry said the device did not resemble bombs described in threats by a mysterious and previously unknown group calling itself AZF.

The group claimed to have planted nine bombs along the country's rail network and has threatened to explode them unless it is paid millions of dollars.

The group's threats, first disclosed in early March, appeared in at least three letters sent to the offices of President Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Dec. 10, Feb. 13 and 17.

The letters, demanding $5.2 million threatened railway targets.

Information from the group led to the recovery Feb. 21 of a sophisticated explosive device buried in tracks near Limoges in central France.

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