| Ghriba synagogue bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Maghreb insurgency | |
 Synagogue entrance through which the fuel tanker drove during attack | |
| Location | Djerba, Tunisia |
| Date | 11 April 2002 |
| Target | El Ghriba synagogue |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
| Weapons | Natural gas truck bomb |
| Deaths | 20 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 30+ |
| Perpetrators | al-Qaeda |
| Motive | Antisemitism |
The Ghriba synagogue bombing was carried out by Niser bin Muhammad Nasr Nawar on the El Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia in 2002.
On 11 April 2002, a natural gas truck fitted with explosives drove past security barriers at the ancient El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba. [1] The truck detonated at the front of the synagogue, killing 14 German tourists, three Tunisians, and two French nationals. [2] More than 30 others were wounded. [3] [4] [5]
| Country | Number |
|---|---|
 Germany | 14 |
 Tunisia | 3 |
 France | 2 |
| Total | 19 |
Although the explosion was initially called an accident, [6] as Tunisia, France, and Germany investigated, it became clear that it was a deliberate attack. A 24-year-old man named Niser bin Muhammad Nasr Nawar was the suicide bomber, who carried out the attack with the aid of a relative.[ who? ] Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attack, [7] which was reportedly organized by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Saad bin Laden. [8] [9] However, Saad's family denied he was involved in the attack. [10] [11]
In March 2003, five people were arrested in Spain in connection with the attack. [12] On May 10, 2006, two of them, Spanish businessman Enrique Cerda and Pakistani national Ahmed Rukhsar, were sentenced to five years in prison for collaborating with a terrorist group. [13] In June 2003, a German man named Christian Ganczarski was arrested at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in connection with the bombing. [14] [15] He was arrested by a joint intelligence operation, in the frame of Alliance Base, which is located in Paris, and transferred to Fresnes Prison in Paris. [16] [17] In February 2009, Ganczarski was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the bombing. [18]
On 11 April 2012, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, Tunisian Grand Rabbi Haim Bitan, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Tunisia, and Boris Boillon, Ambassador of the French Republic to Tunisia, visited Djerba to pay their respects to the victims on the attack's 10th anniversary. Marzouki met with victims' families and delivered a speech where he strongly condemned this attack and reassured Tunisian Jews of their place in Tunisian society. [19]
Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. Its membership is mostly composed of Arabs but also includes people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the U.S. and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing, and the September 11 attacks.
Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda, a militant terrorist organization espousing Islamism, pan-Islamism and jihadism. Bin Laden participated in the Afghan mujahideen's jihad against the Soviet Union during the Soviet—Afghan War, and supported the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Opposed to the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East, Bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in 1996. He supervised international terrorist attacks against Americans, including the September 11 attacks (9/11) inside the U.S. in 2001.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often known by his initials KSM, is a Pakistani terrorist, mechanical engineer and the former Head of Propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He is currently held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-related charges. He was named as "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" in the 2004 9/11 Commission Report.
Djerba, also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at 514 square kilometers (198 sq mi), in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island had a population of 139,544 at the 2004 census, which rose to 163,726 at the 2014 census. Citing its long and unique history, Tunisia has sought UNESCO World Heritage status protections for the island, and, in 2023, Djerba was officially designated a World Heritage Site.
Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan, commonly known by his nom de guerreSaif al-Adel, is a former Egyptian Army officer and explosives expert who is the de facto leader of al-Qaeda. Al-Adel fought the Soviets as an Afghan Arab before becoming a founding member of the al-Qaeda organization. He is a member of Al-Qaeda's Majlis al-Shura and has headed the organization's military committee since the death of Muhammad Atef in 2001. He is currently known to live in Iran along with several other senior members of the group.
The bin Laden family, also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy Hadhrami family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construction firm. Following the September 11 attacks, the family became the subject of media attention and scrutiny due to the activities of Osama bin Laden, the former head of al-Qaeda.
In December 2000, an al-Qaeda-linked plot to bomb the Strasbourg Christmas market, at the feet of the Strasbourg Cathedral, on New Year's Eve was discovered. The plot was foiled by French and German police after a terrorist network based in Frankfurt, Germany, the "Frankfurt group", was unravelled. A total of fourteen people were convicted as part of the plot; four in Germany and ten in France, including the operational leader, Mohammed Bensakhria, thought to be a European deputy to Osama bin Laden. The alleged mastermind of the plot was thought to have been Abu Doha, who was detained in the United Kingdom.
The El Ghriba Synagogue, also known as the Djerba Synagogue, is an ancient Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Jewish village of Hara Seghira, several kilometres southwest of Houmt El Souk, the main town on the island of Djerba, Tunisia. The synagogue appears to be the oldest synagogue in the world.
Christian Ganczarski is a German terrorist who was alleged to be a top Al-Qaeda leader.
Saʻd bin ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin, better known as Saad bin Laden, was one of Osama bin Laden's sons. He continued in his father's footsteps by being active in Al Qaeda, and was being groomed to be his heir apparent. He was killed in an American drone strike in 2009.
The following is a list of attacks which have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.
The international activities of Al-Qaeda includes involvements in Europe, where members of the group have been involved in militant and terrorist activities in several countries. Al-Qaeda has been responsible for or involved in attacks in Western Europe and Russia, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings, 2010 Moscow Metro bombings, 2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing, and the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks.
It is believed that members of Al-Qaeda are hiding along the border of Afghanistan and northwest sections of Pakistan. In Iraq, elements loosely associated with al-Qaeda, in the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad organization commanded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have played a key role in the War in Iraq.
Nizar bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar (1978-2002), an alleged member of the Tunisian Combat Group, was accused of carrying out the 2002 Ghriba synagogue bombing, after planning its execution while living in Montreal, Canada.
Pakistan's role in the War on Terror is a widely discussed topic among policy-makers of various countries, political analysts and international delegates around the world. Pakistan has simultaneously received allegations of harbouring and aiding terrorists and commendation for its anti-terror efforts. Since 2001, the country has also hosted millions of Afghan refugees who fled the war in Afghanistan.
From March to May 1998, a terror plot against the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France was uncovered by European law enforcement agencies. More than 100 people were arrested in seven countries as a result of the plot, although only some of them were tried or convicted. Organised by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and backed by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the plot is thought to have targeted the England–Tunisia match on 15 June 1998, and involved infiltrating the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille in order to attack players and spectators during the game, attack the hotel in Paris hosting the United States national team, and finally hijacking an aircraft and crashing it into the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant near Poitiers.
On 23 December 2006 and 3 January 2007, Tunisian security forces engaged in clashes with members of a group with connections to the Islamist terror group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in the towns of Soliman and Hammam-Lif south of the capital Tunis, killing more than a dozen people.
Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi is a Moroccan-born terrorist and senior member of Al-Qaeda (AQ) who leads the organization's External Communications Office, including As-Sahab Media. He is the son-in-law of the group's late emir Ayman al-Zawahiri, and is seen as a potential successor to Saif al-Adel as leader of the terror group.
On May 9, 2023, Wissam Khazri, a 30-year-old national guardsman, killed five people in a mass shooting at the El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. Khazri initially killed a colleague and seized his ammunition before targeting the synagogue, where a large gathering of Jewish pilgrims were celebrating Lag BaOmer. Two visitors and two Tunisian police officers were killed, while eight others sustained injuries before the perpetrator was killed by the police.
The History of the Jews in Djerba stems back to at least the Middle Ages, although many speculate that it extends back to the Classical Era. The community is one of the last remaining Jewish communities in the Arab world.
