French railway company Sncf has suffered a “massive attack” that has paralysed its “severely disrupted” network just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. “Several concurrent malicious acts” have affected 3 out of 4 lines of the TGV Atlantic, Nord and Est: ‘Deliberate fires were set to damage’ the facilities of the high-speed lines, the railway group explained in a press release. As a result, high-speed train traffic on these three lines is ‘very disturbed’. A source familiar with the matter spoke of acts of “sabotage”.
The “massive attack” against the TGV high-speed train network, which will cause disruptions until the end of the weekend, affects 800,000 travellers. SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou said this at a press conference. Denouncing a “scandalous criminal act”, Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete spoke of “very serious consequences” on rail traffic with one in two trains heading to the North, the East and Brittany and one in four trains “towards Bordeaux” on a summer crossover weekend and with the opening of the Olympic Games.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations has rejected Israel’s accusations, after the Jewish state warned France of a ‘plot’ from Iran to attack the Israeli athletes who are marching with the Italian ones today. “Terrorist acts have no place in the principles of resistance groups, lies and deceit cannot change the role of the accuser and the accused,” the Islamic Republic’s mission to the UN said, as reported by Irna.