Bomb wave sweeps Corsica

AJACCIO (Reuter) - Nationalists set off a wave of 27 bombs on Corsica and in mainland France in a campaign to preserve a special tax status for the island. Some 27 devices caused serious damage to tax offices but no casualties. The Interior Minister, Paul Quiles, called the bombings 'very worrying'.

In a separate incident, armed men abducted a bank manager from his home in the Corsican town of Bastia and held him for several hours. He was released after a ransom was paid.

The bombs exploded within an hour of each other before dawn - 25 in Corsica, one in Paris and another in Nice. The outlawed Corsican National Liberation Front, which wants Corsica's special tax exemptions maintained when the European Community's single market comes into force in January, claimed responsibility.