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France’s high-speed rail network was thrown into chaos, hours before the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, by a series of coordinated arson attacks.

The saboteurs struck away from the capital at five apparently unguarded places. France’s state-owned rail company SNCF says the saboteurs vandalised or targeted five signal boxes and electricity installations.

France’s TGV high-speed train services ground to a halt on major lines and stranded passengers filled the main concourses at Gare Du Nord and Gare Montparnasse, two of the major rail hubs in Paris for travellers on the main lines running north and west of the capital.

The caretaker Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the repercussions for the rail network were massive and serious, and France’s intelligence services and forces of order had been deployed to “find and punish those behind these criminal acts”. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks.

The sabotage took place despite a massive security operation to protect the Olympics. Streets in the centre of Paris have been blocked off, metro stations closed and thousands of police, soldiers and other guards deployed to maintain security on the big showpiece day launch the Olympic Games.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Andrew Harding and Gordon Corera.

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