Five villas in Corsica, including a holiday home belonging to the chief executive of France's leading hotel company, have been damaged or destroyed overnight by explosions, police say.
There were no reports of injuries, although a man guarding the vacation home of Accor Chief Executive Jean-Marc Espalioux was tied up by armed intruders, who then entered the house and set charges, which detonated a few moments later and caused extensive damage, police said.
The Mediterranean island has been plagued for decades by separatist violence. Paris pledged in August to tighten security after an upsurge in bomb attacks.
Police stations, prisons, holiday homes belonging to residents of mainland France and other symbols of French rule have been attacked regularly since proposals to offer Corsica more autonomy were narrowly rejected in a July 6 referendum.
In April, Accor which owns the Sofitel, Ibis and Formule 1 chains in Europe and the U.S. budget motels M6 and Red Roof Inn, was targeted by separatists, who damaged an Ibis hotel while it was still under construction.
After the attack, Accor pulled out of the project.
The attack on Espalioux's villa was preceded by four other explosions on Saturday night, police said. Two homes in a vacation village on the east coast and another in the north of the island were destroyed in blasts. A pizzeria in Bastia, the main northern city, was damaged in another explosion.