Three military vehicles are destroyed in Bristol in a targeted arson attack claimed by an anarchist group, police have confirmed.

Avon and Somerset police today confirmed to Channel 4 News that three vehicles were set alight at the Royal Marine reserve base at Clifton in Bristol.

“At around 3.40am on Tuesday someone has gone to the Royal Marine Force Voluntary Reserve Base in Litfield Place, Clifton Down and set fire to three vehicles,” a police spokesperson stated.

Smoke rose above Clifton from the two vans and one large white personnel transporter we’d torched with low-tech firestarters after breaching the compound

IAF statement

“All three were significantly damaged during the fire.”

Police have begun an arson investigation, and the scene was cordoned off for much of the day while a forensic examination was carried out.

Officers are conducting house-to-house enquiries and say they are following up CCTV evidence showing a person running from the area at the time of the attack.

“We would like to speak to anyone who saw this person, knows where they went or who they are,” a police spokesman added.

A statement posted online by a group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Federation on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group is part of an international network using the same names and style of political communiques to claim low level arson, bomb and gun attacks.

The statement claimed: “This morning smoke rose above Clifton from the two vans and one large white personnel transporter we’d torched with low-tech firestarters after breaching the compound of the Royal Marine Reserve’s Bristol detachment, who’ve been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The group’s message called for further attacks against military targets and railed against the Army’s recruitment tactics.

The Informal Anarchist Federation has previously claimed responsibility for a string of attacks ranging from sabotaging a section of trainline ahead of the Olympics to burning down a police firearms training centre construction site.

Already this year they have released statements claiming responsibility for a number of arson attacks on car showrooms around Bristol and Bath, as well as leaving an explosive device at the offices of Vinci Life Sciences.