1995 bombings in France

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In 1995, the GIA Islamist militant group staged a series of attacks against the French public, targeting public transportation. These attacks killed 8 and injured more than 100. Apparently, the attacks were designed to be a broadening of the civil war in Algeria, a former French colony.

On July 25, 1995, a gas bottle exploded in the Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). 8 were killed and 80 wounded.

On August 17, a bomb at the Arc de Triomphe wounded 17 people. On August 26, a huge bomb was found on the railroad tracks of a high-speed rail line near Lyon. On September 3, a bomb malfunctioned in a square in Paris, wounding 4. On September 7, a car bomb at a Jewish school in Lyon wounded 14.

A leader of the group, Khaled Kelkal, was identified through fingerprints left on unexploded bombs. He was killed on September 29 by members of the French EPIGN gendarmerie unit when allegedly resisting arrest in hills near Lyon.

Yet the attacks continued. On October 6, a gas bottle exploded in station Maison Blanche of the Paris Métro, wounding 13. On October 17, a gas bottle exploded in the Orsay station of RER Line C, wounding 29.

Members of the groups have since been prosecuted for various charges. A number of suspects have fled to the United Kingdom. Extradition proceedings against suspect Rachid Ramda had been ongoing for nearly 10 years, beginning in 1995, with the British courts hearing evidence of possible mistreatment of informants and allegations that it would be impossible for a Muslim suspect to obtain a fair trial in France. Throughout this time, Ramda was detained in London's Belmarsh PrisonTerrorism and the law: The non-trial The Economist Oct 20th 2005 However, on December 1, 2005, Rachid Ramda was extradited to France in connection with the bombing on the Paris Metro ([link]). It is widely alleged^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} outside of the United Kingdom that the earlier reluctance to extradite terror suspects and the toleration of radical islamist cells on British soil was meant to avoid terror acts on British soil itself. ([Le Figaro]).

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