Paris embassy attack plot
Encyclopedia
In 2001, a suspected terrorist plot from Al-Qaida to destroy the United States
embassy in Paris
, France
, as well as a munitions depot in Belgium
was uncovered and stopped. The NATO headquarters in Brussels
was also possibly targeted.
The attack on the U.S. embassy in Paris would have involved a suicide bomber. Nizar Trabelsi
, a former professional football player, was the designated bomber.
The plot was uncovered around the time of the September 11 attacks that destroyed the U.S. World Trade Center
.
, Netherlands
. The Rotterdam cell probably provided the false passports that were used in the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud
.
Tunisia
n Nizar Trabelsi
, a former professional football player in Germany
, planned the attack and was the designated suicide bomber. A gifted IT student named Kamel Daoudi
led the cell and was the alleged bomb maker.
The plan called for a bomb to be built out of sulfur
and acetone
. Trabelsi planned to strap this bomb onto himself, and cover it up with a business suit. He would then detonate himself in the U.S. embassy.
Then, a van packed with explosives would be driven into the U.S. cultural center of Paris and the explosives inside would be detonated at nearby Place de la Madeleine.
Algeria
n conspirator named Djamel Beghal
was arrested in late July 2001 for passport fraud at Dubai International Airport
in the United Arab Emirates
. He was trying to travel back to Europe
on a false French passport after receiving training in Afghanistan
. Trabelsi went to Brussels
and disappeared.
Beghal confessed details of the plot after interrogation. Beghal said that he was relaying instructions from the top brass of Al-Qaida. He recanted parts of his confession after he went back to France
, saying that it had been given under duress. By August, the Dutch
police wiretapped the Rotterdam cell.
The French government opened an inquiry into the plot on 10 September 2001, one day before the September 11, 2001 attacks
occurred. Surveillance had started that day on a group of suspected terrorists in Corbeil-Essonnes
, France
, near Paris
.
Moroccan
were arrested in two different areas of the Brussels metropolitan area. At Trabelsi's Uccle
apartment, police found machine pistols, chemical formulas for bomb-making, detailed maps of the U.S. embassy in Paris, and a business suit. They also found fifty liters of acetone
and 65 kilograms of sulphate.
When French surveillance officers heard several men contemplating on destroying the evidence on computers, police moved in and arrested them on 21 September.
Algeria
n Mohammed Berkous was also arrested for the plot.
Belgian police raided an Egypt
ian snack bar in the heart of Brussels, where they found 100 kg (220 lb) of sulfur
and 50 liters (13 gallons) of acetone
.
Kamel Daoudi
was deported from the United Kingdom
by the UK Border Agency
on 29 September 2002.
On 10 October, Beghal confessed to being a member of al-Tafkir wal-Hijra group, which is believed to be a satellite group of Al-Qaida run by Osama bin Laden
. Beghal said that Bin Laden ordered the attack and that a man named Zein-al-Abideen Mohammed Hussein recruited him. The man turned out to be Abu Zubaydah
.
terrorists in seven Europe
an countries and the United Arab Emirates
. The terrorists were affiliated with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat and its partner organization, Takfir wal Hijra, meaning "excommunication and exile". Several Spanish
men were arrested for making false credit cards.
Nizar Trabelsi
was convicted of trying to destroy public property, illegal arms possession and being a member in a private militia
On 28 December 2002, four suspected conspirators, Frenchman
Jerome Courtailler
, Saaid Ibrahim, a Dutchman
from Ethiopia
, and Algeria
n Abdelghani Rabia and Algerian-Canadian Adel Tobbichi were found not guilty of terrorism by a federal Dutch court.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
embassy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 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...
, as well as a munitions depot in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
was uncovered and stopped. The NATO headquarters in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
was also possibly targeted.
The attack on the U.S. embassy in Paris would have involved a suicide bomber. Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi is a convicted terrorist and a former Tunisian former professional football player in Germany. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 2003 for his association with Al-Qaida, and proposed involvement in militant attacks....
, a former professional football player, was the designated bomber.
The plot was uncovered around the time of the September 11 attacks that destroyed the U.S. World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
.
The plot
The operation was based at an apartment in RotterdamRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The Rotterdam cell probably provided the false passports that were used in the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud
Ahmed Shah Massoud
Ahmad Shah Massoud was a Kabul University engineering student turned military leader who played a leading role in driving the Soviet army out of Afghanistan, earning him the name Lion of Panjshir. His followers call him Āmir Sāhib-e Shahīd...
.
Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
n Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi is a convicted terrorist and a former Tunisian former professional football player in Germany. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 2003 for his association with Al-Qaida, and proposed involvement in militant attacks....
, a former professional football player in Germany
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...
, planned the attack and was the designated suicide bomber. A gifted IT student named Kamel Daoudi
Kamel Daoudi
Kamel Daoudi born was an French-Algerian convicted to blow up a US embassy in Paris on June 2002 and later Daoudi was deported from London, UK by the UK Border Agency. He pled guilty in a French court after his deportation and was sentenced to 9 years in jail.- Life :His father worked in France a...
led the cell and was the alleged bomb maker.
The plan called for a bomb to be built out of sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
and acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
. Trabelsi planned to strap this bomb onto himself, and cover it up with a business suit. He would then detonate himself in the U.S. embassy.
Then, a van packed with explosives would be driven into the U.S. cultural center of Paris and the explosives inside would be detonated at nearby Place de la Madeleine.
The confession that ended it
The plot began to unravel when a 36-year old FrenchFrance
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...
Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n conspirator named Djamel Beghal
Djamel Beghal
Djamel Beghal is a French Algerian man convicted of terrorism.In 28 July 2001, he was arrested at Dubai International Airport while transferring from a flight from Pakistan to a flight to Europe; he held a false French passport.Beghal confessed to UAE authorities that he was conspiring to destroy...
was arrested in late July 2001 for passport fraud at Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai. It is situated in the Al Garhoud district, southeast of Dubai...
in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. He was trying to travel back to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on a false French passport after receiving training in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Trabelsi went to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and disappeared.
Beghal confessed details of the plot after interrogation. Beghal said that he was relaying instructions from the top brass of Al-Qaida. He recanted parts of his confession after he went back to 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...
, saying that it had been given under duress. By August, the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
police wiretapped the Rotterdam cell.
The French government opened an inquiry into the plot on 10 September 2001, one day before the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
occurred. Surveillance had started that day on a group of suspected terrorists in Corbeil-Essonnes
Corbeil-Essonnes
Corbeil-Essonnes is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture building and administration are located inside the commune of Corbeil-Essonnes.In the 19th...
, 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...
, near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Under arrest
On 13 September, four men were arrested in Rotterdam. On the same day, Trabelsi and a BelgianBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
were arrested in two different areas of the Brussels metropolitan area. At Trabelsi's Uccle
Uccle
Uccle or Ukkel is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium.Uccle is known for its well-to-do areas, its green spots and its high rental rates.-History:...
apartment, police found machine pistols, chemical formulas for bomb-making, detailed maps of the U.S. embassy in Paris, and a business suit. They also found fifty liters of acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
and 65 kilograms of sulphate.
When French surveillance officers heard several men contemplating on destroying the evidence on computers, police moved in and arrested them on 21 September.
Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n Mohammed Berkous was also arrested for the plot.
Belgian police raided an Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian snack bar in the heart of Brussels, where they found 100 kg (220 lb) of sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
and 50 liters (13 gallons) of acetone
Acetone
Acetone is the organic compound with the formula 2CO, a colorless, mobile, flammable liquid, the simplest example of the ketones.Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes in the laboratory...
.
Kamel Daoudi
Kamel Daoudi
Kamel Daoudi born was an French-Algerian convicted to blow up a US embassy in Paris on June 2002 and later Daoudi was deported from London, UK by the UK Border Agency. He pled guilty in a French court after his deportation and was sentenced to 9 years in jail.- Life :His father worked in France a...
was deported from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by the UK Border Agency
UK Border Agency
The UK Border Agency is the border control body of the United Kingdom government and part of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency , UKvisas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs...
on 29 September 2002.
On 10 October, Beghal confessed to being a member of al-Tafkir wal-Hijra group, which is believed to be a satellite group of Al-Qaida run by Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. Beghal said that Bin Laden ordered the attack and that a man named Zein-al-Abideen Mohammed Hussein recruited him. The man turned out to be Abu Zubaydah
Abu Zubaydah
Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi Arabian citizen, sentenced to death in Jordan and currently held in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Not neutral: Arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, he has been in US custody for more than eight years, four-and-a-half of them spent incommunicado in solitary confinement...
.
Epilogue
Investigators say that the discovery of the Paris plot uncovered a large network of IslamistIslamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
terrorists in seven Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries and the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. The terrorists were affiliated with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat and its partner organization, Takfir wal Hijra, meaning "excommunication and exile". Several Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
men were arrested for making false credit cards.
Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi is a convicted terrorist and a former Tunisian former professional football player in Germany. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 2003 for his association with Al-Qaida, and proposed involvement in militant attacks....
was convicted of trying to destroy public property, illegal arms possession and being a member in a private militia
On 28 December 2002, four suspected conspirators, Frenchman
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...
Jerome Courtailler
Jerôme Courtailler
- Life :His father, Michel, was a respected butcher whose shop window looked out on the cobblestoned town square. His sons worked in the shop as teenagers, and Jerome pursued the trade for a time. He was raised Roman Catholic. When his fathers business failed, he began drinking alcohol and doing...
, Saaid Ibrahim, a Dutchman
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
from Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, and Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n Abdelghani Rabia and Algerian-Canadian Adel Tobbichi were found not guilty of terrorism by a federal Dutch court.