Fear On The Tracks

The French love their trains, but were boarding them warily after bomb threats to the country's rail system. The government confirmed that its security forces have for the past three months played a cat-and-mouse game with a group calling itself AZF that has threatened to bomb the railroads — and two other unidentified targets — unless it is paid a hefty ransom. Officials were instructed to communicate with the group via personal ads in a newspaper, using the code name "Big Wolf" for AZF and "Suzy" for the Interior Ministry. A day after one such ad was posted, they received the...