Homeland Security

DATE=3/17/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=FRANCE / TERROR (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-314185

BYLINE=ISABELLE BOUCQ

DATELINE=PARIS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: French authorities are taking seriously a threat from an obscure Islamic group, and President Jacques Chirac is urged people to be more vigilant. Isabelle Boucq reports from Paris.

TEXT: Speaking on a national radio, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the threatening letter sent to two newspapers, in his words, does not bear the hallmarks of phrasing customary to Islamic extremists.

The letter threatens to plunge France into terror and remorse because of its new law banning traditional Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols in public schools.

The letter was signed by the Movsar Baraiev Commando, an apparent reference to a Chechen terrorist who was killed in the hostage taking in a Moscow theater in October 2002. The authors also identified themselves as the Servants of Allah the Powerful and Wise, a group unknown to the French anti-terrorist police, who immediately launched an investigation.

During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Jacques Chirac called for people in France to remain vigilant. The French news agency also quotes the president as saying that, faced with terrorism, democracies must reinforce their unity and show what he called unflinching determination.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin promised his government would keep the public informed about terrorist threats. With regional elections scheduled Sunday, the government does not want to risk being accused of retaining or manipulating information. Such allegations were made against the Spanish government last week, after the terrorist bombings there, which came just days before national elections. The ruling party was defeated.

Mr. Sarkozy indicated that the new threat in France does not change the level of alert. Train stations and airports in France were put under maximum guard by police after the train bombings in Madrid Thursday.

Meanwhile, traffic in the Paris Metro was disrupted early Wednesday when at least two suspicious packages were reported. Bomb disposal experts were called to investigate at two heavily used stations.

A Metro representative downplayed the incidents saying that packages are sometimes forgotten or placed on purpose to create confusion.

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Elsewhere in Paris, the trial of three suspected Islamic militants opens Wednesday. The three -- two Frenchmen and one Algerian -- are suspected of attending training camps in Afghanistan and of plotting attacks on French territory.

One of the suspects, David Courtailler, is also suspected of meeting with Jamal Zougam, one of the main suspects in the Madrid train bombings. The meeting allegedly took place in a Madrid mosque in November of 1998.

NEB/IB/AWP//TW