The 1995 Rijeka bombing occurred on 20 October 1995 in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, when an Islamic terrorist organization attempted to destroy a

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

by driving a car with a bomb into the wall of the building. Twenty-seven

employee Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

s in the police station and two bystanders on the street were injured, although the only person killed was the perpetrator.

Background

In the last days of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), a

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

military force, captured

Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim (also spelled Qassim, ; born Nag Hammadi Qena Governorate), also known as Abu Talal al-Qasimi () (possibly executed in 1995), was the leader of Egypt's militant al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya (Gama'a Islamiyya) organization until he ob ...

when he attempted to enter

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. Qasim, an important member of

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (, "Islamic Group") is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorism, terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and the European Union, but was removed from the United States list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations i ...

, was soon transferred to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

with the active help of Croatia. Because of that and because

had de facto controlled the Croatian Defence Council, the military organization which had captured Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim, a decision was made to commit a terrorist attack in Croatia.

Attack

At 11:21 a.m.

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC offset, time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Eur ...

, a

Fiat 131 Mirafiori The Fiat 131 is a mid-size family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1974 to 1984 after its debut at the 1974 Turin Motor Show. Available as a two-door and four-door saloon and 5-door estate across a single generation, the 131 succee ...

entered the parking lot of the

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (, ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in western Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northe ...

police headquarters The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens ...

. Due to the 90-degree turn needed to enter the lot, the vehicle moved slowly. Near the entrance, the driver did not park in the parking spaces for civilians, but instead started to accelerate towards the wall at the end of the parking lot. Due to the low security measures, this incident was not noticed before the attack itself took place. After 15–20 meters, passing 8-10 available parking spaces in the small lot, the Fiat crashed into the stairs leading to the police station and exploded. The time of explosion was recorded as 11:22 a.m. local time (10:22

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

). Subsequently, a police investigation found out the car was loaded with of highly explosive

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

. The police also found a part of a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

inside the remains of the attacker's car. The next day, representatives of the

terrorist organization from

claimed responsibility for the attack, requesting extradition of Qasim. Due to an error made by the attackers, the bombing did not cause fatalities, aside from the suicide bomber himself. The police headquarters is located on a higher ground than the parking lot itself, requiring the stairs in the first place. The other apparent miscalculation involved the size of the parking lot, where the Fiat 131 had neither the space and velocity, nor the horsepower, to climb the stairs and destroy the police station wall. As a result, the police station failed to collapse and only 29 injuries were recorded (including two unaware bystanders). The bomb also carved a large crater in the ground, battering nearby buildings and destroying vehicles.

Aftermath

With the help of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, officials examined the

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a digital video camera, which typically must be film editing, edited to create a motion picture, digital video, video cli ...

of the attack. American and Croatian investigative sources came to the conclusion that Hassan al-Sharif Mahmud Saad had organized this attack. Saad had come to live in Bosnia only that year; previously, he had been living in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Soon after the attack, Bosnian officials discovered that Saad was planning a new terrorist attack, against

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces, which was to happen in December 1995. A few days after that attack failed, he was killed in central Bosnia in a firefight with Croatian HVO forces. The head of El Mujahid, the al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya unit responsible for the training of Muslim fighters for the Bosnian War, was Sheik Anwar Shaaban, a former

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

during the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. Shaaban, along with other four top islamic militants, was shot and killed on 14 December 1995 at a checkpoint set up by the HVO near

Žepče Žepče ( sr-cyrl, Жепче) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Doboj and Zenica. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijeka Bombing Car and truck bombings in 1995 October 1995 in Europe History of Rijeka Rijeka bombing Islamic terrorism in Croatia Islamic terrorist incidents in 1995 Rijeka bombing Suicide car and truck bombings in Europe Attacks on police stations in the 1990s 1995 building bombings 1995 crimes in Croatia Building bombings in Croatia Attacks on police stations in Europe Suicides in Croatia Attacks on government buildings and structures in Croatia

Background

Attack

Aftermath

See also

References