Notorious ‘bombers’ who threatened British vacationers have terrorised everybody because the Nineteen Seventies
Masked Corsican bombers who told British tourists to “stay at home” are part of a shadowy separatist movement with a long history of arson, extortion and coordinated island-wide blasts.
The group calling the shots now is the FLNC‑UC – the “Union of Combatants” faction of the Corsican National Liberation Front – and it sparked alarm after a chilling video was released last week, warning foreign buyers and tourists they “should not consider themselves safe” if they ignore its message.
While UK holidaymakers are targeted, the group’s core rage is aimed at mainland French people buying holiday homes and driving locals out of the property market.
FLNC in 2010(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
French authorities are treating the new worrying message as terrorism. The National Anti‑Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) has opened a formal investigation into criminal conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.
This comes as around 15 masked, hooded militants dressed in black stood in front of an FLNC sign, posing with military-grade weapons including submachine guns and sniper rifles. Here is everything we know about the FLNC-UC.
Who are the FLNC‑UC?
The FLNC was founded in 1976, formed to fight for Corsica’s independence from France. Over the decades it has relied on bombings and arson as its calling card.
But it has splintered into smaller factions – and “UC” (Union of Combatants) is now seen as the largest active strand on the island. Its modern image is heavily tied to the infamous “blue nights” (nuit bleue).
These were highly coordinated waves of bombings carried out across Corsica in a single night, designed to overwhelm police and send a political message. The last major “blue night” was in October 2023, when 45 holiday homes and an empty tax office were hit.
French gendarmes at a private property that was hit by an alleged attack on the night of March 20, 2023 in Villanova in Corsica(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
No one was injured – a detail that feeds into what observers often say about FLNC tactics. They historically go after empty buildings and luxury properties, not ordinary tourists.
What do they actually target?
The group’s primary strategy has long been bombing holiday homes, banks and state-linked buildings. Additionally, they reportedly time explosions when properties are empty to avoid mass casualties.
Members have also been linked to an old-school extortion model dubbed “revolutionary taxes”. This involves demanding cash from local businesses, hoteliers and wealthy homeowners, with threats that refusal could mean a bomb through the front door.
The Corsican militancy has also been fractured and violent internally. In the late 1990s, rival nationalist factions were killing each other in a bloody feud.
A member of the Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica (FLNC) wears a hood and holds a grenade gun(Image: Sygma via Getty Images)
This was a period that shaped the hardened image of today’s militants and blurred lines between political separatism and organised crime.
Why is the group angry now?
The FLNC‑UC is furious over two issues dominating island politics: France has been working on plans to grant Corsica greater autonomy.
But the FLNC‑UC has rejected the proposals as a “farce”, arguing they don’t truly recognise Corsica as a distinct nation and still leave it trapped under French rule. The group claims around 5,000 outsiders move to Corsica every year and says wealthy incomers – mainly from mainland France – are snapping up luxury villas and pushing property prices beyond local reach.
The FLNC‑UC has described it as “rampant settlement-driven colonisation”, branding buyers “invaders”.
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