Bomb Attack in Corsica Injures Three
Mon Jul 14, 2:21 PM ET
BASTIA, Corsica - A bomb ripped through a post office on the troubled French island of Corsica on Monday, injuring three bystanders and badly damaging the building, police said.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack in the northern town of Folelli, but such bombings are often the work of Corsican nationalists fighting for more independence from Paris.
Monday's attack was unusual, however, because it was carried out in the middle of the day and coincided with France's Bastille Day celebrations. Most attacks target empty buildings overnight, and injuries are rare.
"It was made to kill, it's not possible, it makes no sense, it's scandalous," the mayor of Folelli, Jospeh Castelli, told French radio.
The bombing came after a Paris court on Friday handed eight Corsican separatists prison sentences ranging from 15 years to life for their roles in the 1998 killing of the highest official in Corsica.
Nationalist political parties said the tough prison terms signaled vengeance, not justice, and one human rights observer predicted the verdict would set off new violence.
Successive French governments have struggled unsuccessfully to end nearly two decades of low-level separatist violence. In the most recent attempt, the center-right government pitched a proposal that would have granted the Mediterranean island slightly more autonomy.
But the measure, judged by many to be inadequate, was rejected in a referendum a week ago.