Leftist Mexican rebels say behind Sears bomb

MEXICO CITY, Aug 2 (Reuters) A rebel group behind a series of blasts last month at fuel pipelines in Mexico claimed responsibility for a small bomb that went off at a Sears department store in the troubled city of Oaxaca this week.

The Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, said it attacked the store in a mall in Oaxaca yesterday. A second explosive device was found at a US-owned bank in the city but did not go off.

The EPR said in a statement on its Web site that it planted the bombs ''to hit the interests of the national and international oligarchy'' and threatened more attacks.

Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest men, owns the Sears stores in Mexico.

In July, the EPR bombed fuel pipeline in Mexico that unnerved energy investors.

The rebel group also attacked a jail under construction in the southern state of Chiapas last weekend in a campaign to demand the release of two fellow activists it says were jailed or abducted by government forces in May.

A group of armed rebels that sprung up a decade ago, the EPR attacked police and army barracks in southern Mexico in the late 1990s but since then has mainly conducted its campaign via statements on the Internet.

Analysts say it has splintered into a dozen smaller groups, leaving it hard to say who its leaders are, how many members it has and how well armed they are.

REUTERS PD KN1945