The 1995 France bombings were a series of attacks that targeted

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

systems in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, as well as a school in

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after ...

. They were carried out by the

Armed Islamic Group of Algeria The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gove ...

(GIA), who sought to expand the Algerian Civil War to France. The attacks killed eight people, all during the first attack on 25 July 1995. The attack also injured 190 people. The assassination of Abdelbaki Sahraoui, a co-founder of the

Islamic Salvation Front The Islamic Salvation Front ( ar, الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; french: Front Islamique du Salut, FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representi ...

(FIS), was a prelude to the extension of the Islamists'

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 ...

campaign in France."Rachid Ramda jugé pour l'ultime procès des attentats de 1995", in '' Libération'', 1 October 200
read on-line

Attacks

On 25 July 1995 a gas bottle exploded in the Saint-Michel station of line B of the RER metropolitan train system in Paris. Emergency service vehicles then used Place Saint-Michel and the surrounding bridges and streets to attend the scene, while Parvis Notre-Dame became a helicopter landing site and a nearby café, ''Le depart Saint-Michel'', was used as a field hospital. At 8:00 that evening, national news on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 A ...

announced that four people had been killed and another 40 injured in a "mysterious explosion". At that time, no official sources had confirmed that it was a

attack. This was only confirmed later, and the final outcome was said to be eight deaths and 117 injured. It was the deadliest terror attack in France since the

1983 Orly Airport attack The Orly Airport attack was the 15 July 1983 bombing of a Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport in Paris, by the Armenian militant organization ASALA as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian geno ...

, and would be the only deadly attack for the GIA's 1995 bombing campaign in France. On 17 August, a second bomb hidden in a public bin near the Arc de Triomphe wounded 16 people. The bomb was composed of a gas bottle filled with nails. On 26 August a huge bomb was found on the railway tracks of a high-speed rail line near

. It was supposed to explode when a train passed. Fingerprints of Khaled Kelkal and Boualem Bensaïd were found on the bomb. The leader of the group, Khaled Kelkal was quickly identified and his picture appeared all over France. Bombing attacks continued with an attack on 3 September at an open market in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, causing three injuries; and on 7 September when a car bomb exploded near a Jewish school in

, a town near Lyon, causing thirteen injuries. The wanted suspect, Khaled Kelkal, was killed on 29 September by members of the French

EPIGN The Parachute Intervention Squadron of the National Gendarmerie (french: Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) (EPIGN) was the parachute-trained intervention squadron of the French Gendarmerie. The unit was formed in 1 ...

gendarmerie unit near Lyon as he resisted arrest. Nonetheless, the attacks continued on 6 October, the day of Khaled Kelkal’s funeral; another gas bottle exploded in the '' Maison Blanche'' station of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...

, wounding twelve people. Boualem Bensaïd’s fingerprints were again found on the bomb. The next day, a statement from GIA commander Djamel Zitouni, written on 23 September, arrived at the

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

press agency in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. He said the " Jihad"- the "military strikes at the heart of France", were intended to punish it for supporting the Algerian government. A letter was also sent to Jacques Chirac through the French Embassy in Algiers, urging him to

convert to Islam Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

. On 17 October a gas bottle exploded between the Musée d'Orsay and Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame stations of

RER Line C RER C is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris, France and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from north to south. The li ...

, wounding 29. Investigators found a transportation card on Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem used a few minutes before the attack in a nearby underground station. Additional bombs were found and cleared without casualties during morning searches of Metro and RER stations, often in public toilets. Increased security required the removal of all public bins, to prevent bombs from being hidden inside.

Arrests and trials

Members of the

Armed Islamic Group The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gove ...

and the "Kelkal Group" have since been prosecuted on various charges. Some suspects fled to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

proceedings against

Rachid Ramda Rachid Ramda (born , El Ogla, also known as "Abou Farès") is an Algerian man convicted of the 1995 bombings against French public transportation systems. He has denied his involvement.''«La révolution était une obligation religieuse»'', i ...

began in 1995 and went on for nearly ten years, during which Ramda remained detained in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Belmarsh Prison His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category-A men's prison in Thamesmead, south-east London, England. The prison is used in high-profile cases, particularly those concerning national security. Within the prison grounds there is a unique unit ca ...

. Ramda was eventually

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

d to France on 1 December 2005 in connection with the bombings. On 26 October 2007 Ramda was sentenced to life in prison for financing the attacks. According to

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann, part of the money used to finance the bombings came from people connected to the

Brandbergen Mosque The Brandbergen Mosque, officially the Islamic Association in Brandbergen was a mosque located in an apartment in Brandbergen, Haninge Municipality, south of Stockholm, Sweden. In the 1990s the mosque supported the extremist Armed Islamic Group ...

Haninge Haninge Municipality (''Haninge kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Öst ...

, Sweden.

Aftermath

Algeria-France relations were heavily affected by these events. Jacques Chirac refused to meet with Algerian ministers, openly saying that the GIA could have been manipulated by the Algerian secret services. Legislation on terrorism in France was reinforced with a new law in 1996, allowing police forces to perform searches at night. The French government also suspended the Schengen Acquis which allows free movement across borders within Europe, keeping the restrictions in place until March 1996. Vigipirate, the French national security alert system was activated in September 1995 as a result of the attacks, and is still in place in 2020. The crisis only lessened when

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

became

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in 1997 and

Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika (; ar, عبد العزيز بوتفليقة, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Būtaflīqa ; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as President of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019 ...

became the new

Algerian president The president of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria is the head of state and chief executive of Algeria, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Algerian People's National Armed Forces. History of the office The Tripoli Program, whi ...

in 1999.Guy Pervillé, "Vingt ans après 1995: les attentats de Paris, Lyon et Lille reconsidérés", http://www.lefigaro.fr, 24 July 2015

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:France bombings, 1995 1995 in international relations 1995 in Paris 1995 murders in France 1990s crimes in Paris Algerian Civil War Armed Islamic Group of Algeria 1995 bombings Attacks on buildings and structures in Paris August 1995 crimes August 1995 events in Europe Car and truck bombings in France

Bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

Improvised explosive device bombings in 1995 1995 France

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Islamic terrorism in France Islamic terrorism in Paris Islamic terrorist incidents in 1995 July 1995 crimes July 1995 events in Europe Marketplace attacks Mass murder in 1995 Mass murder in Paris October 1995 crimes October 1995 events in Europe School bombings September 1995 crimes September 1995 events in Europe 1995 bombings Terrorist incidents on underground rapid transit systems Train bombings in Europe 20th-century mass murder in France Building bombings in France

Attacks

Arrests and trials

Aftermath

See also

Notes and references