Left-wing radicals behind it

Letter of confession for rail attacks emerges

Workers on a high-speed train in France

(Bild: AFP/Jean-Francois Monier)

The attacks on France's rail network are likely to have a radical left-wing and Olympic-critical background. The daily newspaper "Le Parisien" reported on Saturday evening that a strange letter of confession had emerged.

This had been sent to several French and international media outlets. In the letter, the perpetrators claim responsibility for the arson attacks and suggest that their motive was to disrupt the Olympic Games. "You call it a celebration? We see it as a celebration of nationalism, a gigantic staging of the subjugation of the population by the states," it said.

Workers on an express train

(Bild: AFP/Jean-Francois Monier)

Investigators are now looking into whether the letter is genuine or whether a group is falsely claiming responsibility for the attacks. In any case, the newspaper wrote that the lead is classified as serious, as the confessional email was sent via a secure domain name that is regularly used by violent left-wing protest movements.

As reported , the arson attacks at points on the French high-speed rail network on Friday night severely disrupted rail traffic shortly before the start of the Olympic Games (see video above). However, the state railroad SNCF expects traffic to return to normal from Monday.