FRENCH police and politicians swung into crisis mode last night after two people were killed and more than 50 injured in an apparent terrorist bomb attack on the Paris underground.
Eight people were in a critical condition in hospital and 28 were seriously injured after the blast, which occurred during the evening rush hour in the heart of the French capital.
Last night the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, said there was no doubt that the incident was a terrorist attack, although no group bad claimed responsibility.
The Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe, who visited the scene as the injured were still being evacuated from the station, ordered last year's high security plan known as "Vigipirate" to be put back in place.
Thousands of police and soldiers were ordered on to the streets of Paris last night. All public areas, train stations, schools, hospitals and government building throughout the country will now be under surveillance.
Border controls, virtually eliminated under a European Union agreement, were also reinstated.
The device, made of home-made explosives and a gas canister weighing 15kg, exploded as the RER, a rapid city train, approached the station, Port Royal, near Paris's Latin Quarter. It had been planted in the second carriage of the train, part of which was still underground when the bomb went off at 6.03 pm.
The device resembled those used by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, the GIA, in its terror campaign in the summer of 1995. French radio said last night that the bomb contained nails, a hallmark of the Algerian terrorist bombing's last year.
There was speculation in both Algiers and Paris that the result of last Thursday's referendum in Algeria, increasing the president's powers and banning factional political parties, had led to the latest attack.
Rescue workers, who were on the scene within minutes, discovered some of the victims in the wreckage. Others had been thrown on to the platform outside.
Mr Chirac condemned the attack as a "barbaric act" and vowed to bring those responsible, to justice.
Last year seven similar attacks on the Paris underground left eight people dead and over 160 injured. The Algerian fundamentalists, the GIA, claimed responsibility for those attacks.
Witnesses of the blast described hearing a massive explosion and seeing thick black smoke coming from the tunnel. Many of the injured received blood transfusions on the platform before being taken to hospital.
President Chirac, speaking two hours after the explosion occurred, said he had no doubt it was an act of terrorism. "My first thoughts are for the victims, their families and the injured," he said. The incident was "an attack one the innocent".
"I want to declare my determination, that of my government and the entire nation, to fight by all means terrorism of all forms. You can be assured nothing will be neglected in carrying out this task," he said.