Terrorism in France dates back to December 24, 1800

LAHORE: The phenomenon of terrorism in France, the largest European Union member having the fifth largest economy of the world today with a nominal GDP of $2.902 trillion, is more than 200 years old.
The recent attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in Paris has certainly shocked the 66.6 million citizens of France, but history shows that on December 24, 1800, the globally-acclaimed French military and political leader Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) was unsuccessfully targeted in Paris.
In July 1835, the then sitting French King Louis Philippe I was unsuccessfully targeted and in January 1858, a bid to assassinate the elected French President and Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon I) was foiled in time.
The deadliest attack in modern French history was witnessed in June 1961, when a bomb attack on a Strasbourg-Paris train had killed 28 people and wounded over 100 passengers, sending waves of stunning fear across a country that happens to be the wealthiest nation in Europe today in terms of total household wealth.
Investigators had later found that the rails had been sabotaged using an explosive device that functioned when the train passed over it.The bombing was carried out by the “Organization of the Secret Army,” a paramilitary organization opposed to the independence of Algeria from French colonial rule.
(Reference: The 1826 Paris-based French daily newspaper Le Figaro)
However, the worst terrorist attack in terms of the number of French victims was the September 1989 bombing of an airline. The incident had led to 170 deaths. The figure included 156 passengers and 14 crewmembers. Some 54 of those were French citizens.Overall, in relatively modern history since 1961, more than 100 people have been killed and over 600 injured in terrorist attacks carried out by a variety of militant outfits.
While France has managed to avert numerous terror attacks since June 1961, a few subversive activities did claim human lives.Here is the list of major successful and unsuccessful terror bids since June 1961:
In September 1961, a few terrorists protesting against French moves to give Algeria independence attempted to blow up French President Charles De Gaulle in France, but road side bomb had failed to explode.
In January 1962, one woman was killed and 13 people wounded when terrorists had bombed the French Foreign Ministry building in Paris.
In August 1962, terrorists staged a machine gun attack on car carrying French President Charles de Gaulle in a Paris suburb. The president escaped the attack unhurt and the former French soldiers who carried out the attack were all later arrested. More unsuccessful assassination attempts were made on March 1 and 15 March, 1963. Five more murder attempts on the President had failed in 1964 and three attacks were made on him in 1965.
(References: The Centre for Defence and International Security Studies Terrorism Programme Database, leading French daily evening newspaper Le Monde, BBC, Le Figaro)
In December 1973, four people had perished in an attack on Algerian Consulate in France.
In 1975, a committed Marxist-Leninist Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal (real name: Ramirez Sanchez) had murdered an informant for the French government and two French counter-intelligence agents.
He had fled the scene and in September 1976; he was eventually arrested, detained in Yugoslavia and flown to Baghdad.
From Baghdad, he was sent to Sudan and on August 14, 1994, Sudan had transferred him to French agents.
He is currently serving a double life sentence without the possibility of parole in France after his December 12, 1997 trial.
While in prison he was further convicted of attacks in France that killed 11 and injured 150 people and sentenced to an additional life term.
In 1973, Carlos had conducted a failed assassination attempt on a Jewish businessman called Joseph Sieff. The attack was announced as retaliation for Israeli spy agency Mossad’s assassination of a leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Carlos had also admitted carrying out attacks on three French newspapers accusing them of pro-Israeli leanings. He had later participated in two failed rocket-propelled grenade attacks on a French airport.
He had also orchestrated the December 1975 attack on an OPEC meeting in Vienna. His men had taken more than 60 hostages and killed three: an Austrian policeman, an Iraqi OPEC employee and a member of the Libyan delegation.
In October 1980, two people had lost lives in an attack on a Paris synagogue.
In September 1981, a man was killed in an attack on Turkish Consulate in Paris.
In March 1982, a train bombing had led to five deaths.
The April 1982, the car-bombing of the Libyan newspaper Al-Watan al-Arabi in Paris had seen one person dying.
The August 1982 Paris shooting had seen six men perishing.
The July 1983 bombing at a French airport by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia had led to eight deaths.
The December 31, 1983 shooting had left two dead and 33 injured and on the same day; a train bombing had sent three more people to their graves.
In March 1984, a bomb had destroyed a French aircraft, but there were no fatalities on that occasion and those responsible were never identified.
The July 1986 bombing at a Paris store had claimed seven lives.
The December 1994 plane hijacking had seen another seven men going down.
The 1995 Paris Metro bombings had claimed eight lives.
The December 1996 bombing in Paris had claimed four more human lives.
The February 1998 shooting had left one dead and the April 2000 bombing outside a McDonald’s restaurant had killed one more man.
Since 9/11, not many terror incidents have rocked France, because most planners were nabbed before they could strike and wreak havoc.
Here follows the brief list of a few averted and successful bids after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States:
Around mud-September 2001, the details of an Al-Qaeda plan to destroy the American Embassy in Paris an ammunition depot in Belgium were finally decoded.
The plot was unveiled after when a 36-year old French-Algerian conspirator named Djamel Beghal was arrested in late July 2001 for passport fraud at Dubai International Airport. He was trying to travel back to Europe on a fake French passport after having reportedly received training in Afghanistan.
By September 13, 2001, or just two days after the 9/11, four men were arrested in Rotterdam (Holland). On the same day, a footballer Nizar Trabels and a Belgian Moroccan were arrested in two different areas of the Brussels (Belgium).
Probing authorities said Nizar Trabelsi was the designated suicide bomber. Belgian police had found machine pistols, chemical formulas for bomb-making and detailed maps of the US embassy in Paris from the flat of the apprehended Trabelsi’s uncle.
(References: CNN and BBC)
The July 2003 double attack against the regional directorates of customs and the treasury in the French city of Nice had injured six, but could not cause a death.
On December 1, 2007, three Spanish militants had killed two civil guards in a French town.
On December 6, 2007, a parcel bomb explosion had killed another man in Paris, injuring several other people.
The March 2012 shootings in the country had led to seven deaths and the May 2013 stabbing of a French soldier in a Paris suburb could only cause a few wounds.
To add a little more in this context, in October 2013, French police had arrested a man named Lyes Darani, allegedly with a manual explaining how to make a bomb and a letter containing a religious pledge to commit a suicide attack. He is facing a charge involving criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist undertaking.
In March 2014, French police had claimed to have foiled a terror attack. Earlier in the year, Italian police had arrested, and extradited to France, a 23 years old man who had returned from Syria. He was allegedly caught with soda cans filled with explosives, nails, nuts and bolts. He was suspected of planning a grenade attack on a Jewish business in September 2012.
In July 2014, a man named Mohamed Ouharani was arrested in Paris. He had reportedly trained with ISIS and was allegedly planning to carry out shooting attacks. He has been charged under the French anti-terror laws.