Stephan Agostini, AFP I A bomb exploded on September 14 in the Cargese Club Med, which was also the site of a huge blaze in 2008 (file photo.)

A bomb exploded in the Club Med nightclub in southern Corsica's Cargese on Sunday morning, causing extensive damage but no deaths said local police, who are investigating it as a criminal act possibly tied to separatist movements.

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No-one was inside the building when the explosion took place just before 5am on Sunday morning. A bomb disposal team went to the site shortly after the blast. According to police, the explosion was criminal and not an accident.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack and while Corsica has struggled with violent separatist movements for years, the explosion happened in the midst of relative calm.

On June 25, the FLNC (National Liberation Front of Corsica) released a historic statement saying that it would lay down its weapons for the first time since it was set up in 1976.

However, other separatist factions may not be in a similar mood.

“The recent decision to lay down its arms mirrors the truces of the 1990s and may have provoked the creation of smaller, breakaway groups,” said a police expert on the FLNC.

He also said that he had no doubt that the recent attack on the Club Med nightclub was “political”.

The initial investigation is being conducted by the public prosecutors of Ajacco but anti-terrorism specialists from the Paris public prosecutors office are expected to arrive in Corsica in the next few hours.

Since 1976, when the FLNC was created, there have been roughly 10,500 bomb attacks in Corsica. Some 4,700 have been claimed by separatist groups.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)



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