Tag Archives: France

A knife-wielding man of North African appearance wearing a jihab attacked a uniformed French antiterrorism soldier who was patrolling a subway station in a crowded Paris business district, slashing him repeatedly in the throat. The soldier was seriously wounded, and the attacker escaped into the crowd. Officials are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

Gilles Le Guen, a jihadist and former French Marine believed to have joined al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, was flown to Paris and handed over to French intelligence for questioning. He was captured by French forces in Timbuktu, Mali, earlier this year.

Convicted Algerian terrorist Said Arif escaped from house arrest in a car belonging to the family who owned the hotel at which he was staying. The al Qaeda-linked member of the “Chechen Network” planned attacks in France, Spain, and elsewhere.

Foreign Minister Fabius urged the UN to designate the Al Nusrah Front a terrorist group. Al Nusrah, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, was added to the US terrorist list in December. France still seeks a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict, and wants to increase support for the Syrian National Coalition.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released a video calling for Muslims to attack “French interests everywhere” to retaliate for the French intervention in Mali. French authorities are concerned about radicalization of Muslim youth in French prisons, where there is a shortage of imams. France reportedly arrested 91 people in 2012 for “religiously-inspired terrorism.”

The defense minister said 1,000 French troops would remain in Mali after UN forces arrive; Parliament voted to prolong military operations in Mali. A young man shot and killed three people with a Kalashnikov rifle in the southern town of Istres. Authorities arrested him in Istres and a second suspect in Paris. The shooter reportedly […]

The Foreign Ministry said talks at the UN had begun on the issue of whether to label the Al Nusrah Front in Syria a terrorist group. France has indicated it will oppose any attempt to label all Syrian opposition fighters as terrorists.

Ibrahim Aziz Ouattara, a French jihadist who was arrested and deported from Mali, was charged in Paris on April 5. He had traveled to Mali using the identity of Khalifa Dramé, who is also being sought by the authorities. A Frenchman who traveled with two other Frenchmen and al Qaeda operative Naamen Meziche to Pakistan […]

The French military peacekeeping force in the Ivory Coast has begun training a battalion of 235 Ivorian soldiers for deployment to Mali with a West African force. France is reportedly considering the purchase of unarmed Reaper surveillance drones from the US.

Foreign Minister Fabius proposed that France would keep 1,000 troops in Mali as a counterterrorism force to support UN peacekeeping operations. He also called on the Tuareg MNLA to disarm and join the political process. France hopes the UN peacekeeping force can be approved in the next few weeks.