France's High-Speed Rail Sabotage Causes Chaos Amid Olympic Opening

France faced significant travel chaos due to a sabotage attack on its high-speed rail network on the opening day of the Olympic Games. The damage affected lines connecting major cities like Paris, Lille, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin suggested possible foreign involvement, though no group has claimed responsibility yet.

France's interior minister stated on Saturday that he could not dismiss the possibility of foreign involvement in an attack that sabotaged signal stations and cables on the country's high-speed rail network, resulting in travel chaos on the opening day of the Olympic Games.

The pre-dawn attacks on Friday damaged infrastructure along lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west, and Strasbourg in the east. According to SNCF, another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 television, "Who is responsible? Either it's from within, or it's been ordered from abroad; it's too early to say." He added, "We have uncovered a certain number of elements which lead us to believe that we will know fairly quickly who is responsible."

Two security sources mentioned that the modus operandi initially pointed to leftist militants or environmental activists, but there is no evidence yet. Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete and SNCF's chief Jean-Pierre Farandou assured reporters on Saturday that traffic on France's high-speed rail network should return to normal by Monday.

SNCF confirmed that transport plans for teams competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics would be guaranteed. On Friday, 100,000 people missed their trains, and another 150,000 faced delays but eventually reached their destinations, according to Vergriete.

"There will still be disruptions tomorrow," Vergriete said. "From Monday, there is no need to worry."

(With inputs from agencies.)