Dynamite found in Paris department store

Police cordoned off Printemps Haussmann store and the capitals best known shopping boulevard while hordes of shoppers and tourists were evacuated at the height of the Christmas shopping season.

A group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front had earlier sent a letter to AFP warning of "several bombs" in the upscale store and demanding that France withdraw its 2,600 troops by the end of February.

French anti-terrorism police used sniffer dogs to locate the dynamite in a third-floor toilet cistern at the Printemps menswear store, one of a group of famous shops on the historic Boulevard Haussmann.

Interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie said no detonator was found -- meaning that the device could not explode -- and an official described the find as old  ticks of dynamite fastened together with a piece of cord.

Briefing reporters at the scene, she said: "From what we know so far, this was not a device that was intended to explode."

"Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009 or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time, without warning," the letter said.

But Alliot-Marie cautioned that investigators would be wary of the claims contained in the letter, which "could point them toward false leads."

Asked about the discovery, President Nicolas Sarkozy called for vigilance and firmness in the battle against terrorism.

"Vigilance against terrorism is the only possible policy; vigilance because unfortunately anything can happen, and firmness because you cannot compromise with terrorism," he said at a news conference in Strasbourg.

But the president also stressed the need to be "extremely prudent" and not jump to conclusions following the explosives find.

Alliot-Marie said the so-called Afghan Revolutionary Front was not known to French intelligence and stressed that "the end of the year was a particularly symbolic time" for would-be attackers of any ilk.

Shopper Marie-Christine Soulard said she was told that a suspect package had been found in the store after she dropped off an Armani dress for alterations and that she had to leave immediately.

"There was no panic. It all took place calmly. But I don’t know when I will be able to get my dress back," she said.

Lightly-dressed store clerks and sales personnel were rushed out of the multi-floored store and left standing in the biting December cold.

"Customers were told to leave first and we followed quickly behind," said employee Nadine Mallet. "I have to say I was frightened. I still have an upset stomach."

Last week, an AFP journalist received a warning from an anonymous caller that a bomb would be set off at the Printemps department store at 11:42 am, prompting police to order an evacuation for what then proved a false alarm.

In November, an Afghan Taliban leader had warned in a video broadcast on an Arab satellite news network of attacks to be carried out in Paris unless France withdrew its soldiers.

Sarkozy decided earlier this year to add hundreds of troops to the French contingent serving in a NATO force that is battling the Taliban in Afghanistan and supporting President Hamid Karzai.

France's contribution is one of the largest in Afghanistan, after those of the United States, Britain and Germany.