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Terrorism |
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Terrorism in France refers to the terrorist attacks that have targeted the country and its population during the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism, in this case is much related to the country's history, international affairs and political approach. Legislation has been set up by lawmakers to fight terrorism in France.
CBC News reported in December 2018 that the number of people killed in terrorist attacks in France since 2015 was 249, with the number of wounded at 928. [18] Within the European Union, France is the most affected country with recent data showcasing a total of 82 Islamist attacks and 332 deaths from 1979 to 2021. [19]
Year | Number of incidents | Deaths | Injuries |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 9 | 7 | 10 |
2019 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
2018 | 3 | 10 | 30 |
2017 | 9 | 3 | 16 |
2016 | 26 | 95 | 470 |
2015 | 36 | 162 | 443 |
2014 | 14 | 1 | 15 |
2013 | 12 | 0 | 5 |
2012 | 65 | 8 | 8 |
2011 | 8 | 0 | 4 |
2010 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2009 | 9 | 0 | 11 |
2008 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
2007 | 16 | 3 | 8 |
2006 | 34 | 1 | 3 |
2005 | 33 | 0 | 11 |
2004 | 11 | 0 | 10 |
2003 | 34 | 0 | 21 |
2002 | 32 | 0 | 4 |
2001 | 21 | 0 | 16 |
2000 | 28 | 4 | 1 |
1999 | 46 | 0 | 2 |
1998 | 12 | 1 | 0 |
1997 | 130 | 0 | 4 |
1996 | 270 | 18 | 114 |
1995 | 71 | 19 | 177 |
1994 | 97 | 7 | 22 |
1993 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
1992 | 126 | 9 | 12 |
1991 | 137 | 6 | 5 |
1990 | 30 | 3 | 3 |
1989 | 25 | 3 | 2 |
1988 | 54 | 6 | 19 |
1987 | 87 | 5 | 8 |
1986 | 95 | 25 | 306 |
1985 | 106 | 17 | 83 |
1984 | 145 | 15 | 57 |
1983 | 121 | 20 | 186 |
1982 | 62 | 17 | 144 |
1981 | 66 | 8 | 78 |
1980 | 94 | 20 | 74 |
1979 | 212 | 11 | 41 |
1978 | 59 | 21 | 17 |
1977 | 53 | 3 | 7 |
1976 | 58 | 7 | 10 |
1975 | 39 | 3 | 25 |
1974 | 29 | 3 | 41 |
1973 | 14 | 5 | 20 |
1972 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
1971 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1970 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 2,654 | 547 | 2,559 |
France had its first occurrences with religious extremism in the 1980s due to French involvement in the Lebanese Civil War. In the 1990s, a series of attacks on French soil were executed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA).
In the 1990–2010 time span, France experienced repeated attacks linked to international jihadist movements. [22] Le Monde reported on 26 July 2016 that "Islamist Terrorism" had caused 236 dead in France in the preceding 18-month period. [23]
In the 2015–2018 timespan in France, 249 people were killed and 928 wounded in a total of 22 terrorist attacks. [24]
The deadly attacks in 2015 in France changed the issue of Islamist radicalization from a security threat to also constitute a social problem. Prime minister François Hollande and prime minister Manuel Valls saw the fundamental values of the French republic being challenged and called them attacks against secular, enlightenment and democratic values along with "what makes us who we are". [22]
Although jihadists in the 2015-onward timeframe legitimized their attacks with a narrative of reprisal for France's participation in the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, Islamic terrorism in France has other, deeper and older causes. The main reasons France suffers frequent attacks are, in no particular order: [25]
France has a modern history of right-wing terrorism that dates back to the middle of the 20th century. Historically, right-wing terrorism was tied to rage over the loss of France's colonial possessions in Africa, particularly Algeria. In 1961, the Organisation armée secrète or OAS, a right-wing terrorist group that protested Algerian independence from France, launched a bomb attack on board a Strasbourg–Paris train which killed 28 people. [29]
On 14 December 1973, the far-right Charles Martel Group orchestrated a bomb attack at the Consulate of Algeria, killing 4 people and injuring 20. [30] The group targeted mostly Algerian targets several more times.
In the town of Toulon, a far-right extremist group called SOS-France existed. On 18 August 1986, four members were driving a car carrying explosives, apparently in an attempt to bomb the offices of SOS Racisme. However it exploded while they were still in it, killing all four of them. [31]
In more recent history, far-right extremism in France has been fueled by the rise of anti-immigrant far-right political movements. Neo-Nazi members of the French and European Nationalist Party were responsible for a pair of anti-immigrant terror bombings in 1988. Sonacotra hostels in Cagnes-sur-Mer and Cannes were bombed, killing Romanian immigrant George Iordachescu and injuring 16 people, mostly Tunisians. In an attempt to frame Jewish extremists for the Cagnes-sur-Mer bombing, the terrorists left leaflets bearing Stars of David and the name Masada at the scene, with the message "To destroy Israel, Islam has chosen the sword. For this choice, Islam will perish." [32]
On 28 May 2008, members of the neo-Nazi Nomad 88 group fired with machine guns at people from their car in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge. [33] [34]
In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, six mosques and a restaurant were attacked in acts deemed as right-wing terrorism by authorities. [35] The acts included grenade throwing, shooting, and use of an improvised explosive device.France | ||||||||
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Date | Sub | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Type | Perpetrator | Description of target and attack | |
15 September 1958 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 3 | Small arms fire | FLN (Algerian nationalists) | – Government institutions
| |
18 June 1961 | ![]() | Blacy, Marne | 28 | 100+ | Improvised Explosive Device | Organisation armée secrète | – Private citizens & property
| |
14 December 1973 | ![]() | Marseille | 4 | 20 | Improvised Explosive Device | Charles Martel Group | – Diplomatic (Algeria) | |
15 September 1974 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 34 | Improvised Explosive Device | PFLP (Palestinian nationalists) | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
24 October 1975 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | - | Grenade & Small arms fire | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Diplomatic (Turkish)
| |
20 May 1978 | ![]() | Paris | 4 | 3 | Grenade & Small arms fire | PFLP (Palestinian nationalists) | – Airports & airlines | |
5 October 1978 | ![]() | Marseille | 9 | 12 | Small arms fire | – Private citizens & property
| ||
23 December 1979 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | - | Grenade & Small arms fire | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Diplomatic (Turkish)
| |
28 January 1980 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 8 | Improvised Explosive Device | – Diplomatic (Syrian)
| ||
17 July 1980 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 4 | Small arms fire | Guards of Islam (Iranian agents) | – Government institutions (Shah of Iran)
| |
29 July 1980 | ![]() | Lyon | 2 | 11 | Small arms fire | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Diplomatic (Turkish)
| |
3 October 1980 | ![]() | Paris | 4 | 40 | Improvised Explosive Device | - | – Religious figures & institutions
| |
25 November 1980 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 1 | Small arms fire | - | – Private citizens & property
| |
4 March 1981 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 1 | Small arms fire | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Diplomatic (Turkish)
| |
24 September 1981 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 2 | Small arms fire – Hostage taking (2 days) | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Diplomatic (Turkish)
| |
29 March 1982 | ![]() | Ambazac | 5 | 27 | Improvised Explosive Device | Carlos the Jackal | – Transport
| |
22 April 1982 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 47 | Car bomb | Carlos the Jackal | – Political
| |
9 August 1982 | ![]() | Paris | 6 | 22 | Grenade & Small arms fire | Abu Nidal Organization | – Private Citizens & Property | |
21 August 1982 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 2 | Improvised Explosive Device | - | – Diplomatic (United States)
| |
28 February 1983 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 4 | Improvised Explosive Device | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Private Citizens & Property | |
15 July 1983 | ![]() | Paris | 8 | 55 | Improvised Explosive Device | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Airports & airlines
| |
5 August 1983 | ![]() | Avignon | 7 | – | Small arms fire | – Private citizens & property
| ||
1 October 1983 | ![]() | Marseille | 1 | 26 | Improvised Explosive Device | ASALA (Armenian nationalists) | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
31 December 1983 | ![]() | Marseille | 5 | 58+ | Improvised Explosive Device | Carlos the Jackal | – Transport
| |
7 February 1984 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 1 | Small arms fire | Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad | – Government institutions (Shah of Iran)
| |
8 February 1984 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | – | Small arms fire | Abu Nidal Organization | – Diplomatic (Emirati)
| |
25 January 1985 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | – | Small arms fire | Action Directe | – Government institutions
| |
23 February 1985 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 15 | Improvised Explosive Device | – | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
3 March 1985 | ![]() | Paris | 4 | – | Small arms fire | – | – Government institutions (Foreign: Khmer Rouge)
| |
20 March 1986 | ![]() | Paris | 2 | 28 | Improvised Explosive Device | CSPPA (Lebanese faction) | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
25 April 1986 | ![]() | Lyon | 1 | – | Small arms fire | – | – Business
| |
9 September 1986 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 18 | Improvised Explosive Device | CSPPA (Lebanese faction) | – Government institutions
| |
15 September 1986 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 51 | Improvised Explosive Device | CSPPA (Lebanese faction) | – Government institutions
| |
17 September 1986 | ![]() | Paris | 5 | 50+ | Improvised Explosive Device | CSPPA (Lebanese faction) | – Private Citizens & Property | |
18 October 1986 | ![]() | Toulon | 4 | – | Car bomb | – | – | |
17 November 1986 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | – | Small arms fire | Action Directe | – Business
| |
19 December 1988 | ![]() | Cagnes sur Mer | 1 | 12 | Improvised Explosive Device | French and European Nationalist Party | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
5 October 1994 | ![]() | Paris | 4 | 6 | Small arms fire – Hostage taking | – | – Government institutions
| |
25 July 1995 | ![]() | Paris | 8 | 150 | Improvised explosive device | GIA (Islamists) | – Transport
| |
3 December 1996 | ![]() | Paris | 3 | 85 | Improvised explosive device | GIA (Islamists) | – Transport
| |
19 April 2000 | ![]() | Plévin | 1 | – | Improvised explosive device | – | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
6 December 2007 | ![]() | Paris | 1 | 4 | Improvised explosive device | – | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
16 December 2008 | ![]() | Paris | 0 | 0 | Failed explosive device | Afghan Revolutionary Front | – Government institutions
| |
15 March 2012 | ![]() | Montauban | 2 | 1 | Small arms fire | Mohammed Merah (Islamist) | – Government institutions
| |
19 March 2012 | ![]() | Toulouse | 5 (one perp.) | 1 | Small arms fire | Mohammed Merah (Islamist) | – Religious figures & institutions
| |
7 January 2015 | ![]() | Paris | 14 (2 perps.) | 11 | Small arms fire | Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
9 January 2015 | ![]() | Paris | 5 (one perp.) | 9 | Small arms fire – hostage taking (1 day) | Amedy Coulibaly (Islamist) | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
26 June 2015 | ![]() | Saint-Quentin-Fallavier | 1 | 2 | Bladed weapon & Improvised Explosive Device | Yassine Salhi (Islamist) | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
21 August 2015 | ![]() | Oignies | 0 | 5 | Small arms, bladed weapons | Ayoub El Khazzani (Islamist) | – Transport
| |
13 November 2015 | ![]() | Paris, Saint-Denis | 130 (+7) | 368 | AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades, various explosives, suicide vests | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
14 July 2016 | ![]() | Nice | 86 (+1) | 434 | Vehicular attack | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
13 June 2016 | ![]() | Magnanville | 2 | 0 | Knife | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
3 February 2017 | ![]() | Paris | 0 | 1 | Knife | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens & Property
| |
20 April 2017 | ![]() | Paris | 1 (+1) | 3 | AK-47 assault rifle | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Police officers & Private Citizen
| |
23 March 2018 | ![]() | Aude | 4 (+1) | 15 | Handgun, hunting knife and homemade explosives | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Police officers & Private Citizens
| |
12 May 2018 | ![]() | Paris | 1 (+1) | 4 | Knife | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizen
| |
11 December 2018 | ![]() | Strasbourg | 5 (+1) | 11 | Modele 1892 revolver and knife | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens
| |
24 May 2019 | ![]() | Lyon | 0 | 13 | Improvised Explosive Device | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | – Private Citizens
| |
3 October 2019 | ![]() | Paris | 4 (+1) | 2 | Ceramic Knife | Islamist | – Police Employees
| |
3 January 2020 | ![]() | Villejuif | 1 (+1) | 2 | Knife | Islamist | – Civilians
| |
4 April 2020 | ![]() | Romans-sur-Isère | 2 | 5 | Knife | Islamist | -Civilians
| |
27 April 2020 | ![]() | Colombes | 0 | 3 | Vehicle | Islamist | -Civilians
| |
25 September 2020 | ![]() | Paris | 0 | 2 | Knife | Islamist | -Civilians
| |
16 October 2020 | ![]() | Éragny-sur-Oise | 1 (+1) | 0 | Knife | Islamist | -Teacher
| |
29 October 2020 | ![]() | Nice | 3 | 0 (+1) | Knife | Islamist | -Churchgoers
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In 2015, a 26-year-old Moroccan man known as a member of the radical Islamist movement attempted to open fire with an AK47 assault rifle while on a high speed train one hour from Paris. He was quickly subdued by three United States servicemen who were on holiday. [115] See: 2015 Thalys train attack
Towards the end of March 2016, police arrested a Paris citizen named Reda Kriket, and upon searching his apartment, they discovered five assault rifles, a number of handguns, and an amount of chemical substances that could be used to make explosives. [116]
Kriket was convicted in absentia by a Belgian court in a 2015 case involving Abdelhamid Abaaoud. [117]
Under French law, any grave act of violence committed with intent "to seriously disturb public order through intimidation or terror", is an act of terrorism; the public prosecutor decides which cases will be investigated as acts of terrorism. [118] Writing in Le Figaro attorney Gilles-William Goldnadel characterized the public prosecutor's decision not to investigate a crime, Murder of Sarah Halimi as terrorism, as "purely and simply ideological", asserting that the killer, who recited verses form the Quran before breaking into an apartment and murdering a Jewish woman, "had the profile of a radical Islamist, and yet somehow there is a resistance to call a spade a spade". [118] Sarah Halimi's murder was heard by neighbors in her building and in neighboring building over an extended period of time. Neighbors also saw the killer throw his victim from the balcony of her home, and heard the killer praying aloud after the murder. [119] [118] In September, 2017, the prosecutor officially characterized the murder as an "antisemitic" hate crime. [120]
According to Jean-Charles Brisard, director of the French think tank Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, "It needs to have a certain degree of willingness to disrupt the French public order."[ clarification needed ] [118] [121]
Islamic terrorism refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists.
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami is a Pakistani Islamist extremist, fundamentalist and terrorist organisation affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist group and an unrecognised quasi-state. Its origins were in the Jai'sh al-Taifa al-Mansurah organization founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004, which fought alongside Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn during the Iraqi insurgency. The group gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants successfully captured large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of the ongoing Syrian civil war. It is well known for its massive human rights violations and war crimes. It engaged in the persecution of Christians and Shia Muslims, and published videos of beheadings and executions against journalists and aid workers. By the end of 2015, it was internationally considered to be one of the biggest terrorist organizations of all time and it ruled an area with an estimated population of twelve million people, where it enforced its extremist interpretation of Islamic law, managed an annual budget exceeding US$1 billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters.
An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.
Salafi jihadism, also known as revolutionary Salafism or jihadist Salafism, is a religious-political Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy of "physical" (military) jihadist attacks on non-Muslim targets. The Salafist interpretation of sacred Islamic texts is "in their most literal, traditional sense", which adherents claim will bring about the return to "true Islam".
Germany has experienced significant terrorism in its history, particularly during the Weimar Republic and during the Cold War, carried out by far-left and far-right German groups as well as by foreign terrorist organisations.
There is a long history of terrorism in Europe. This has often been linked to nationalist and separatist movements, while other acts have been related to politics, religious extremism, or organized crime. Terrorism in the European sections of the intercontinental countries of Turkey and Russia are not included in this list.
The Islamic State – Libya Province is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.
On 20 December 2014, a man in Joué-lès-Tours near the city of Tours in central France entered a police station and attacked officers with a knife, shouting "Allahu Akbar" and injuring three before he was shot and killed. The attack was categorised as a case of religiously inspired terrorism by Europol, and has been reported by Europol as well as mappings by CNN and AFP as inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
On 13 June 2016, a police officer and his partner, a police secretary, were stabbed to death in their home in Magnanville, France, located about 55 km (34 mi) west of Paris, by a man convicted in 2013 of associating with a group planning terrorist acts. Amaq News Agency, an online outlet said to be sponsored by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said that a source had claimed that ISIL was behind the attack, an assertion that was later validated.
Islamic terrorism in Europe has been carried out by the Islamic State (ISIL) or Al-Qaeda as well as Islamist lone wolves since the late 20th century. Europol, which releases the annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend report (TE-SAT), used the term "Islamist terrorism" in the years 2006–2010, "religiously inspired terrorism" 2011–2014, and has used "jihadist terrorism" since 2015. Europol defines jihadism as "a violent ideology exploiting traditional Islamic concepts".
On 19 June 2017, a car loaded with guns and explosives was rammed into a convoy of Gendarmerie vehicles on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. The driver, identified as Djaziri Adam Lotfi was killed as a detonation clouded the car in orange smoke. The attacker had been on terrorism watchlists for Islamic extremism since 2014, and pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before the attack. In a letter to his family he stated that for years he had supported "the Mujahedeen who fight to save Islam and the Muslims," having practiced shooting "to prepare for jihad," and stated that the attack should be treated as a "martyrdom operation."
This article covers attacks and activity of terrorism in Belgium.
The origins of the Islamic State group can be traced back to three main organizations. Earliest of these was the "Jamāʻat al-Tawḥīd wa-al-Jihād" organization, founded by the Jihadist leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in Jordan in 1999. The other two predecessor organizations emerged during the Iraqi insurgency against the U.S. occupation forces. These included the "Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah" group founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004 and the "Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah" group founded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his associates in the same year.
De l'attaque de « Charlie Hebdo » et de l'« Hyper casher » en janvier 2015 à la mort du père Jacques Hamel à Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray, mardi 26 juillet, ce sont 236 personnes qui ont perdu la vie dans des attentats et attaques terroristes
22 — the number of terror incidents on French soil since the beginning of 2015. / 249 — the number of dead in those attacks. / 928 — the number of wounded.
On entend clairement, sur cette vidéo, la détonation de 21h16
President Emmanuel Macron has described the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel as "the largest antisemitic attack of our century". He was addressing a ceremony for French victims of the attacks in the courtyard of the Invalides military complex in Paris. A total of 42 French and dual French-Israeli nationals were killed on 7 October, and six were injured. Three are still missing, presumed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.