On 31 December 1983, three bombs went off in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, two on a high speed

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

train and another at the Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles. The bombs killed five people. The TGV train was in service with passengers, bound for

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The explosions happened when the train was travelling south of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. Three passengers were killed and about 30 were wounded by the blast. The train suffered extensive damage with the number 3 passenger car being blown in half and pieces of the trains were found on rooftops of buildings hundreds of meters away. It was estimated that the bomb contained 16kg of explosives. About 15 minutes later a bomb planted in the luggage room of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

's terminus train station detonated. Two people were killed at the station.

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal ( es, link=no, Carlos el Chacal) or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder ...

was convicted for this

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attack as well as two in 1982 (the

Capitole train bombing The Capitole train bombing was the bombing of a Le Capitole train on the Paris-Toulouse express near Limoges on 28 March 1982. The attack killed five people and injured 28 others. The bombing was claimed by a group calling itself "International ...

and the April Paris car bomb) in December 2011.

References

{{coord missing, France 1983 murders in France 20th century in Marseille 20th-century mass murder in France Attacks on buildings and structures in Marseille Attacks on railway stations in Europe Crime in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 1983 crimes December 1983 events December 1983 events in Europe Improvised explosive device bombings in 1983 Improvised explosive device bombings in France Mass murder in 1983 Murder in Marseille Terrorist incidents in France in 1983 Terrorist incidents in Marseille Train bombings in Europe Building bombings in France Railway accidents and incidents in France

See also

References