French armed forces chief of staff General Jean-Pierre Kelche said yesterday there was a "significant likelihood" the al-Qaeda network carried out a bus bombing in Pakistan which left 14 people dead.
"It's a little early to say, but there is a significant likelihood" of al-Qaeda involvement in the attack, Gen Kelche said.
French President Jacques Chirac, meanwhile, reaffirmed "France's determination to do everything possible to fight international terrorism," following the blast in Karachi that claimed the lives of 11 French nationals, two Pakistanis plus a suicide bomber.
The French general said the bombers had targeted the West in general and specifically countries participating in the US-led multinational coalition fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.
French forces have been engaged in the effort to crush the al-Qaeda network of terror operatives led by Osama bin Laden.
Mr Chirac said in a televised statement that he had asked Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf to find those responsible for the bombing and punish them for the "cowardly crime". In Paris, the prosecutor's office said the anti-terrorist section and the DST counter-intelligence service had been asked to open a preliminary inquiry into the blast. Officers from both services would leave for Pakistan "as soon as possible," an official said.
The 11 French nationals killed were working on a joint Franco-Pakistani project to build three Agosta 90B class submarines and were employed by the Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN), a shipbuilder which is part of the Defence Ministry.
The DCN, which employs more than 15,000 people, set up a crisis centre following the apparent suicide attack to comfort friends and family of the victims.
Gen Kelche said France would immediately send a medical team to Pakistan to examine the French nationals injured in the blast and determine whether they should be evacuated.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie is also planning to travel to Pakistan to ask it to tighten security around French interests in Karachi.
www.bangkokpost.com/News/09May2002_news37.htmlE-mail this article