France, March 6 -- The operation against centre-right politician Pierre-Yves Bournazel, who is running for mayor of Paris, was likely conducted by the Storm-1516 network, said France's state-run Viginum agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns.

The group is suspected of being behind numerous disinformation campaigns in France, including an effort detected in February to spread false claims linking President Emmanuel Macron to US convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Viginum said on Friday it had identified an account on X known to engage in disinformation operations, before discovering a website impersonating Bournazel's official site.

The agency said the website had been hijacked to "discredit his image" - though i...