Fiber optic networks in France “sabotaged”

Several fiber optic networks across France have reportedly been “sabotaged” just days after arson attacks during the Olympic Games opening ceremony brought high-speed rail services to a halt.

As police told the French news agency Agence France Presse, the cables of several telecommunications operators were deliberately cut in six regions of France on Monday.

However, Paris was not affected by the sabotage.

In southern France, cables in switchboards belonging to operators SFR and Bouygues were cut, and vandalism occurred in the Meuse region near Luxembourg and in the Oise department near Paris, reported the French newspaper Le Parisien.

The vandalism mainly affects fixed-line services and not mobile devices.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the country’s infrastructure.

The incident occurred just three days after “coordinated” actions brought high-speed rail services to a halt on three key routes between Paris, Lille, Bordeaux and Strasbourg.

A fourth attack on the Paris-Marseille route was thwarted by night shift workers.

The high-speed train disruption ruined the journeys of at least 250,000 passengers on Friday, including those arriving on the Eurostar from other parts of Europe, such as the UK.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said French intelligence services had been mobilized to find the perpetrators of the “acts of sabotage,” which he described as “prepared and coordinated.”

They have “a clear goal: to block the high-speed train network” before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Attal said.

“Playing against the Games means playing against France, against your own camp, against your own country,” said Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera about the attacks.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday that “several people” had been identified as involved in the train sabotage and were suspected of being linked to left-wing French anarchists.

The attacks on the high-speed lines were “deliberate, very precise and extremely targeted,” Darmanin said, according to France 24.

“This is the traditional type of action of the ultra-left.”

Although Darmanin believes the group was linked to left-wing radicals, he said one must be “cautious” before revealing the names of the suspects.

“These are people who could be close to this movement,” Darmanin explained.

He added that the government was still investigating whether they were “manipulated” or acting “for their own benefit.”

Since Monday morning, all railway lines affected by the attacks have been back in operation.