Christian Ganczarski, born 1966 in Gliwice

Gliwice

Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

, Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 citizen of Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 ancestry who converted to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. He is one of the individuals who has been described as the head of "al Qaeda in Europe". Ganczarski was captured when a plane he was travelling in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Early on the morning of April 11, 2002 Niser bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar and a colleague drove the truck loaded with natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 canisters behind a German tourist bus near the El Ghriba synagogue

El Ghriba synagogue

The ancient El Ghriba Synagogue, , also known as the Djerba Synagogue, is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba. It is situated in the Jewish village of Hara Seghira, , several kilometres southwest of Houmt Souk, the capital of Djerba.-History:The synagogue is the destination of an annual...

 on Djerba

Djerba

Djerba , also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is, at 514 km², the largest island of North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, off the coast of Tunisia.-Description:...

 island, Tunisia. Nawar then used a cell phone belonging to his brother, to phone Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ganczarski. After his colleague fled the scene on foot, Nawar detonated the explosives

Ghriba synagogue bombing

The Ghriba synagogue bombing was a deadly bombing carried out by Niser bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar in Tunisia on the El Ghriba synagogue.On April 11, 2002, a natural gas truck fitted with explosives drove past security barriers at the ancient Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba...

.

In February 2009, Ganczarski was sentenced by a French court to 18 years in prison for the bombing.

Further reading

• Political Serial Killing by Proxy: Christian Ganczarski the chief perpetrator, Nizar Nawar his proxy and the Djerba Synagogue Bombing by Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin http://www.geradts.com/anil/ij/vol_008_no_002/papers/paper001.html