YEREVAN Jan. 9, (NT - AFP) - A Corsican nationalist organisation claimed responsibilty on Tuesday for 26 overnight bombings as rivalry between pro-independence groups hotted up ahead of talks with Paris government leaders. The 26 explosions -- and 11 attempted bombings -- on the French-ruled Mediterranean island were the latest in a series by rival groups vying for the attention of the government ahead of political contacts with Prime Minister Alain Juppe and Interior Minister Jean-Louis Debre. The Resistenza organisation claimed responsibility for the overnight attacks which caused light to moderate damage but no casualties. Resistenza is the armed wing of one of two splinters of the banned Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC), which broke into two in 1989. The explosions came as Juppe prepared to hold talks in Paris with elected representatives of Corsica, where violence linked to nationalist rivalries resulted in 36 murders and at least one bomb blast a day last year, causing 200 million francs (40 million dollars) worth of damage. Late Monday night, five powerful blasts shook the centre of Ajaccio. The targets were tax offices and two banks. Another explosion later damaged the Air Inter airline office while bomb disposal experts said they had defused several other devices planted at a tax office and a branch of the France Telecom telecommunications authority. pl/agv/ss AFP /AA1234/091230 GMT JAN 96

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