Environment Minister Yves Cochet said on Sunday that an explosion at a chemicals plant last week in the southwestern French town of Toulouse in which 29 people died could have been caused by an attack.
"All theories are open until we have the results of investigations," he said on French radio, adding that the eventuality of an attack, was "weak."
Cochet said that there are currently four enquiries ongoing into the explosion on September 21 at a factory belonging to the TotalFinaElf group.
The environment minister played down comments by Toulouse's city prosecutor that there was a "ninety nine percent chance that the explosion was an accident".
Cochet said that it was impossible that 300 tons of ammonium nitrate in the warehouse had self-combusted, contradicting the official theory.
The explosion totally destroyed the AZF factory, which had been built 80 years ago in what was then a greenfield site but had gradually been surrounded by encroaching suburban development.
Of the 2,500 people who were hurt in the blast, some 300 remained in hospital Friday. Some 10,000 homes were damaged, around 50 schools have been unable to re-open, and 7,000 people have been made temporarily redundant.
On Saturday 15,000 people marched through the streets of Toulouse to highlight the dangers posed by chemical factories in residential neighborhoods -- PARIS (AFP)
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