AN anarchist group has claimed responsibility for an arson attack on railway signals that caused chaos on Bristol's trains.
Police have condemned the vandalism as "completely irresponsible" and say it could have put passengers' and rail workers' lives at risk.
Parson Street station
A message claiming to be from the "Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) – May 22nd Group" was posted on an activist website saying its members had set fire to cables near Patchway station and Parson Street station in Bedminster.
The attacks caused major disruption to train services on Tuesday, with passengers facing delays and replacement bus services laid on.
Describing the arson as a "guerrilla attack" in a statement justifying its actions, the group said it had intended to disrupt the travel of people working for the Ministry of Defence and "military industry companies" in Filton, along with the "corportate (sic) hub of Bristol".
The group's statement described how its members had damaged cables by lifting the covers of cabling trenches and burning the signalling cables below.
The group went on to claim that: "Finance, judicial, communications, military and transport infastructure (sic) will continue to be targets of the new generation of urban low-intensity warfare." The statement ended by calling for "civil war" and riots.
British Transport Police confirmed that the signalling cable appeared to have been set alight and called on anyone who had seen suspicious activity near the line near Shepton Walk in Bedminster at about 4am, or near Patchway station on the same morning, to contact them.
BTP Detective Chief Inspector John Pyke said: "A BTP investigation is under way to establish who is responsible for these attacks, which we believe were deliberate and could have put innocent passengers and rail staff at serious risk.
"This was completely irresponsible behaviour and we will do everything possible to trace those responsible and bring them to justice.
"We are aware of a statement posted on the internet in which a group is claiming responsibility for these incidents.
"At the moment, this is one of a number of lines of inquiry officers are investigating."
The vandal attack was also criticised by other users of the activist website, with one describing them as "clueless pseudo-militants" and "muppets".
Another said: "In a time when we are trying to encourage people out of their cars and onto public transport it only takes a few such incidents to significantly discourage people from using the trains."
Anyone with information about the attacks should call British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Perhaps it's this sort of idiocy we're going to see in the future as roads begin to die - with desperate lunatics lashing out at what they see as 'easy' targets? This has NOTHING to do with anarchy and everything to do with a few rich-kid retards looking for cheap excitement. Don't these mugs realise that they will rely on the railways in the future?
