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French PM accused of terror "hype" before polls

Rivals of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin accused him on Thursday of exaggerating the terror threat facing France in a bid to win support ahead of key regional polls this weekend.

Opposition Socialists said he sought to exploit a climate of fear after the Madrid train bombings by publishing a threat to France made by a shadowy Islamic group whose authenticity has since been questioned. Raffarin allies issued vehement denials.

Manipulating the issue could backfire as it did in Spain, they warned. Although Raffarin’s government is not at stake in the polls, a voter backlash could force a cabinet reshuffle.

French forces nearly captured Bin Laden — perhaps several times

Osama bin Laden narrowly escaped capture by French troops working with American forces in Afghanistan, perhaps several times, the head of France’s armed forces said Monday.

French soldiers are determined to capture the fugitive head of the al-Qaida network by the end of the year, Gen. Henri Bentegeat said Monday.

‘‘Our men were not very far,’’ Bentegeat told France’s Europe-1 radio station. ‘‘On several occasions, I even think that he slipped out of a net that was well closed.’’

Bentegeat did not say when or where the escapes took place and a Defense Ministry spokeswoman declined to give details.

Trial of French rock star begins

On the first day of his trial for killing Marie Trintignant, French rock star Bertrand Cantat on Tuesday admitted that he tussled with his movie-star girlfriend in a Vilnius hotel last July, but insisted her death was a tragic accident.

“We loved each other and our love was growing,” the 40-year-old told a three-judge panel in testimony lasting over an hour at the District Court in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital.

Cantat did not enter a clear not guilty plea to the manslaughter charge, something that is not required in the Baltic state’s judicial system.

He faces a maximum 15-year jail sentence, with the judges expected to hand down a verdict and sentence this week.

Chechen link to France threat

The letter from the group calling itself the “Servants of Allah the Mighty and the Wise” was addressed to the head of the French government and published in the Paris daily “Le Parisien.”

It was signed with the name “Commando Movsar Barayev,” on behalf of the shadowy group, the newspaper said.

Movsar Barayev is the name of the Chechen rebel and alleged leader of a deadly hostage-taking raid October 2002 on a theater in Moscow.

Russian special forces stormed the theater and killed Barayev.

The French Justice Department opened the investigation in conjunction with special police services.

Interior Ministry Nicolas Sarkozy said the letter is being analyzed.

Investigators said they had not heard of the group.