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Excerpt from www.yahoo.com

The arson attacks on France’s high-speed rail network hours before the opening of the Olympics may be linked to radical left-wingers and groups critical of the Olympics, the daily Le Parisien reported.

A letter claiming responsibility and containing references to ultra-leftist groups was sent to several French and international media outlets, Le Parisien reported Saturday evening.

The alleged perpetrators claimed responsibility for the arson attacks on Friday and suggested 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,” the newspaper quoted the letter as saying.

Investigators are now looking into whether this is a genuine claim of responsibility or an attempt to falsely claim credit for the attacks.

However, Le Parisien wrote that authorities considered this a serious lead in the case, as the confessional letter – which came via email – was sent through a secure domain name that has been regularly seen in investigations into violent left-wing protest movements.