Bomb in Politician’s Car Kills Mechanic
PROVINS, France — A bomb exploded in the car of a right-wing politician Monday, killing a mechanic called to the official’s house to pick up the vehicle, police said.
The official, Alain Peyrefitte, 61, a noted writer who served as a Cabinet minister under Presidents Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou and Valery Giscard d’Estaing and who is a parliamentary deputy, was in Paris at the time.
It was the first attempted assassination of a French political figure since attempts to kill De Gaulle in 1961 and 1962.
Peyrefitte, a member of the editorial committee of the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro, declined to speculate on who might have been responsible. He said he has received no threats against his life in recent years and was under no special protection.
A woman called the city hall at Provins, about 60 miles east of Paris, to claim responsibility for the attack on behalf of the leftist French terror group Direct Action.
The woman said, “Terrorist attack against Alain Peyrefitte, Direct Action,†and hung up, police said. Police said they were skeptical about the claim. The group previously has used only written statements or leaflets to claim responsibility for attacks.
“I’m shaken by the horrible and unjust death of this employee,†Peyrefitte said. He added that he had not received threats but believed he became a target because of his outspoken editorials printed regularly on the front page of Le Figaro, the newspaper closest to Premier Jacques Chirac’s center-right government.
“I’m the symbol of the simple idea that there’s no liberty without order in a society,†he once said in a television interview.
Interior Minister Charles Pasqua did not confirm the Direct Action connection directly but said in a televised interview that “those who have declared war on the Europe of bossesâ€--as Direct Action has done--â€did not hesitate to take the risk of killing workers.â€
Direct Action struck last on Nov. 17 with the assassination of Georges Besse, president of Renault, the state-owned auto manufacturing company.
Police said the bombed automobile, a Citroen, belonged to the city of Provins, and city employees parked it in front of Peyrefitte’s house Friday for his weekend use.
Instead, he drove to Paris over the weekend in his personal car.
City hall mechanic Serger Langer, 51, and another city hall worker, Roger Roland, went to Peyrefitte’s home to pick up the car at 8:30 a.m. It wouldn’t start, so they changed the battery and Roland drove away in his own vehicle.
When Langer started Peyrefitte’s car, it exploded in a fireball, killing him instantly. Witnesses said the explosion was heard throughout the city.
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