Islamists targeted Eiffel Tower

Algiers - Radical Algerian Islamist Group (GIA) planned in 1994 to blow up a hijacked Air France plane over the Eiffel Tower …

Algiers - Radical Algerian Islamist Group (GIA) planned in 1994 to blow up a hijacked Air France plane over the Eiffel Tower to oblige France to end its political support for the Algerian authorities, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

An Air France Airbus was hijacked in Algiers on December 24th, 1994 by four GIA members who forced it to land in Marseille. The group killed three passengers before French elite forces launched an assault and killed the four hijackers.

"The main objective of the hijack operation was to blow up the plane with all passengers over the Eiffel Tower and create a media impact that would oblige France to change its position in the Algerian conflict," Mr Omar Chikhi, a former GIA chief, told the Arabic El Youm newspaper.