Group demands payoff, threatens attacks

PARIS – A group sent parts of bomb detonators to President Jacques Chirac and the Interior Ministry, threatening to carry out attacks unless it was paid off, authorities said Friday.

The identical letters, signed by a group calling itself AZF, were received Thursday. They carried threats of striking in May, the prosecutor’s office said.

Officials did not disclose the specific nature of the threatened attacks or the amount of payment demanded.

The office said that each letter was posted in France and contained pieces of detonators.

Investigators were analyzing the letters and attempting to identify the group and stop it from acting, it said.