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On 8 May 2002, a suicide bomb attack killed 11 engineers and technicians working for the French state-owned company DCN (Direction des constructions navales) in Karachi. From the outset, investigators suspected al-Qaida. However, as Libération reports, an alternative scenario has recently been put forward: a revenge killing orchestrated by Pakistani secret services, prompted by France's refusal to pay 'commissions,' promised as part of a 1994 submarine sales deal. The theory of Pakistani secret service involvement was proposed in the wake of the attack, but later set aside — and, the daily notes, was labelled as "ridiculous and grotesque" by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In conclusion, Libération insists "that France devote the necessary resources for a proper investigation of the bombing, which should not be impeded by a borderline immoral presidential fit of pique."
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