Flags across France are being lowered to half-mast on Monday as the body of slain Corsica prefect Claude Erignac is flown home for burial.

Despite two rounds of forensic tests on a pair of suspects being held in custody, so far investigators have not turned up conclusive evidence tying the pair to the crime.

Both men, 20-year-olds of Moroccan origins, have denied involvement and have not been charged, but they can be held for up to four days under French anti-terrorism legislation.

According to French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement, even if the two were guilty, they could not have been acting alone.

The motive for the slaying is unclear.

Although a Corsican nationalist group, the FLNC-Historic Wing had announced an end to its cease fire two weeks before the attack, the group's political wing, Concolta Maziunalista, was one of several nationalist groups that condemned the shooting.

Nicolas Sarkozy, general secretary of the right wing RPR party, had his own theory:

"We should have the courage to say that Corsica is now in the hands of the Mafia, who kill, kidnap and assassinate not for great causes, not for autonomy, but for money."

The only apparent lead so far is the murder weapon, a 9mm pistol left close to the body.

It had been stolen by an armed nationalist group which captured a pair of police officers last September.

A nation mourns

The murdered man

The body of 60-year-old Claude Erignac has been taken to Lozere in the south of France and will be buried in a quiet ceremony attended only by family and close friends.

Back in Ajaccio where Mr Erignac was killed Friday, there will be a 15-minute silence Monday morning, followed by a ceremony attended by the French President, Prime Minister and several other government members.

When the ceremony starts at 15:00 GMT a minute of silence will be observed across France.

Corsica's quarter of a million inhabitants have rarely protested the violence of the last 20 years, but though there have been thousands of bombings there have been few murders.

Around 500 people gathered in central Ajaccio on Sunday to pay their respects to Mr Erignac, who had been Prefect for two years, and applauded in sympathy as his hearse passed.

Local elections are due to be held on the island in March and opinion polls indicate that popularity of the political nationalist groups was plummeting.
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