Everything was in place. Streets in central Paris were blocked off, metro stations closed, and thousands of police, soldiers, and other security personnel deployed to ensure safety on the big showpiece day kicking off the Olympics. Yet, the saboteurs struck far from the capital, targeting five seemingly unguarded locations.

France’s state-owned rail company, SNCF, reported that saboteurs vandalized or attempted to vandalize five signal boxes and electricity installations between 1:00 AM and 5:30 AM on Friday.

One of the sites targeted was at Courtalain, east of Le Mans and 150 kilometers southwest of Paris. A local community’s social media page shared a photo of burnt-out cables in a shallow gulley, with discarded SNCF paving stones visible nearby.

SNCF described the incidents as a “massive, large-scale attack aimed at paralyzing” its services, involving arson and theft of cabling. In addition to Courtalain, the attacks occurred at Pagny-sur-Moselle, a village near the eastern city of Metz, and Croisilles, close to the northern city of Arras.