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| Europe |
| Explosives defused at French Basque resorts |
| 2008-08-10 |
| The French Basque country was preparing itself for a tense summer holiday season yesterday after bomb squads were called in to defuse several explosive devices planted at resorts across the region. More than 1,000 holidaymakers, among them Britons, had to be evacuated overnight from their hotels and apartments after police received an anonymous tip-off that five bombs had been left in different towns in south-west France near the border with Spain. Yesterday police located three of the devices - one at a popular "holiday village" in the town of Arcangues, another at Arcangues' tourist information office and a third on the high-speed TGV railway line at the town of Ondres in the Landes region. The homemade explosives - one of which was a can of petrol strapped to a detonator - were described by local authorities as "weak and defective". Searches were ongoing yesterday at the other sites mentioned by the caller, which included the casino in Biarritz and a hotel in Bidarray formerly owned by Alain Ducasse, the Michelin-starred chef who quit the region last year after a series of attacks on his restaurant. A holiday resort in Anglet was also searched. Police said that although they had so far found nothing, they would keep looking until they were sure no bombs remained. News of the bombs revived fears that the region could be hit by Basque separatist attacks at the height of its tourist season. |
| Posted by:lotp |