Riviera blast injures 16

2003-07-20 08:39

Nice, France - Sixteen people were slightly injured early on Sunday by two explosions in front of the regional tax and customs offices in the centre of this French Riviera town, a local official said.

Sub-prefect Abdel Aissou said the 16, who were taken to hospital, lived in nearby buildings of which windows were blown out.

"The explosions are of criminal origin but we have no claim for the moment," an official of the Alpes-Maritimes region told journalists after the blasts outside the two offices some 50m apart at 02:30.

On September 25 last year a bomb was discovered in a plastic case near the main entrance to the tax office in Nice and disarmed. The attempted attack was claimed in an anonymous phone call the same day on behalf of the Corsican National Liberation Front.

- AFX