Blow Out Sale In The Explosives Deparment

Police acting on a warning found a bundle of dynamite inside a Paris department store at the height of the Christmas season, and a group demanding that France withdraw from Afghanistan claimed responsibility. Yes, get French department stores out of Afghanistan!

Sticks of dynamite tied together but without a detonator were found in the Printemps department store, a favored shopping destination for tourists, and a Christmas season attraction because of its festive window displays. The explosives appeared "relatively old", and police said they were found in the third floor restroom of the menswear department. Five sticks were found.

"There was no risk of explosion," authorities said.

French news agency Agence France-Presse said it received a letter from a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front saying that several bombs had been planted in the store. Police said they searched the store and found the dynamite because of the warning. The group was "totally unknown" to police but that the claim was being studied. In the letter, the group demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan before the end of February, and threatened attacks if France refuses. "Otherwise we will go back into action in your big capitalist stores and this time without warning you," the letter said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has increased France's troop levels in Afghanistan, quickly stressed that he would not bend to terrorism. France has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan. A senior police official said several aspects of the incident did not bear the hallmarks of Islamic terrorism — sending a warning, the type of explosives used, the language in the letter and the name used by the group. Perhaps it was women's shoes. Those dicks have been at odds with menswear since the spring sale.