Paris - Ten people arrested for a recent series of attacks on French railway lines are said to belong to a small left-wing extremist group intent on carrying out acts of disruption, French media reported on Wednesday. Five of the 10 suspects - including the alleged leader of the group, a 34-year-old names Julien - were living in a small village in the department, or region, of Correze in central France when they were taken into custody early Tuesday. Others were arrested in Paris and Rouen.
According to the daily Le Figaro, the suspects were five men, four of their girlfriends and the mother of one of the women.
They are suspected of carrying out a series of attacks on railway infrastructure in the past week that led to lengthy train delays on the extensive high-speed TGV rail network.
More than 40 high-speed trains between Paris and London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne had to be transferred to traditional tracks on Saturday, resulting in more than 150 trains running up to six hours late, after metal pipes were placed atop overhead powerlines at four separate locations.
On Sunday night, one TGV train travelling near Narbonne in southern France hit concrete blocks that had been placed on the tracks. No one was injured in the incidents.
"These people wanted to attack the (French railway network) SNCF because it is a symbol of the state and they knew their acts would have a strong media impact," Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.
Members of the group had been under surveillance by police since as early as January, when two of them were observed carrying out acts of vandalism during an anarchist protest in front of a US Army recruitment station in New York's Times Square, Le Figaro reported.
If convicted, they face sentences of up to 10 years in prison as well as heavy fines.
