Algeria-bound ferry evacuated after bomb hoax
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PARIS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A bomb alert on a ferry sailing from France to Algeria with more than 1,450 people on board forced it to return to port but no explosives were found, police said on Saturday.
The "Tarik", operated by Algerie Ferries, had to return to the French port of Marseille after an anonymous phone caller to the Algerian consulate in Lyon warned it was carrying a "car packed with explosives".
The ship arrived back in the French port shortly after 1700 GMT on Saturday accompanied by a fire boat and was met by a fleet of ambulances and bomb disposal experts.
"The alert has been lifted. Nothing dangerous was found," a police spokesman said after the passengers had been evacuated and the ship searched.
Al Qaeda's North African wing claimed responsibility for twin car bombs on Tuesday that killed more than 30 people at U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers, saying it had targeted "the slaves of America and France".
The attacks, the deadliest assault in Algiers in years, followed a string of similar bombings after Islamist rebels in the country adopted the al Qaeda name at the start of the year. (Reporting by Jean Francois Rosnoblet; Editing by Charles Dick)
