Car bomb blasts Corsican agency

PARIS (Reuters) -- A car bomb has exploded in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio slightly injuring several people and causing extensive damage to the island's Agency for Economic Development (ADEC), police said.

The blast at 0210 GMT on Sunday came less than a week after the murder of two prominent Corsican nationalists in a sub-machine gun raid.

And it is another blow to French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's plan to grant Corsica limited autonomy if there is an end to two decades of separatist violence on the Mediterranean island.

The explosion set fire to the ADEC building, destroying one floor, damaging neighbouring buildings and narrowly missing a nearby petrol station.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb so far.

Corsican separatist groups declared a truce in January after Jospin opened talks with the island's nationalists.

But the separatist Fronte Patriotu Corsu said on August 4 it wanted Paris to announce a swift, concrete plan of action and would carry out attacks "if necessary."

The ADEC offices have been attacked three times in recent years by the outlawed FLNC Canal Historique separatists.

The agency is responsible for managing several sectors of the economy, including industry, trade, fishing, energy production, taxation and the tax free zone.

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