Police find explosives in Paris store after warning

Police found explosives hidden in a Paris department store yesterday after a tip-off from a group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.

The group called itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front, but French officials said they had never heard of it before and warned it might be a false lead.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said five "relatively old" sticks of dynamite were discovered in the Printemps store. The explosives were not attached to detonators, suggesting the aim was to spread alarm rather than cause death and destruction.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France would not negotiate with terrorists and urged caution. "At this point in time I would call on everyone to be very prudent and very measured," he said during a visit to eastern France.

The tip-off was sent by letter to a French news agency, warning that bombs had been planted in the Printemps store on the Boulevard Haussmann, which is usually packed with Christmas shoppers at this time of year.

Dynamite was found in a lavatory on the third floor of the men's section of the huge store, which was allowed to reopen some five hours after the alarm was raised. Two police officials had earlier said explosives were found on two floors.

"If you do not intervene before Wednesday, December 17, they will explode," the letter said, according to extracts carried on the website of the daily Le Monde.