On 3 December 1996 an IED detonated on the southbound tracks of the

Port-Royal Port Royal is the former capital city of Jamaica. Port Royal or Port Royale may also refer to: Institutions * Port-Royal-des-Champs, an abbey near Paris, France, which spawned influential schools and writers of the 17th century ** Port-Royal Ab ...

Réseau Express Régional The Réseau Express Régional ( en, Regional Express Network), commonly abbreviated RER (), is a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. It acts as a combined city-centre underground rail system and suburbs-t ...

(RER) station in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, France. Four people were killed in the bombing: two French citizens, a

Moroccan Moroccan may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to the country of Morocco * Moroccan people * Moroccan Arabic, spoken in Morocco * Moroccan Jews See also * Morocco leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant, the French Maro ...

and a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

. Following the bombing, French officials activated the "Vigipirate" nationwide security plan drawn up a year earlier in the wake of a series of bombings by the

Armed Islamic Group of Algeria The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gov ...

(GIA). The plan included

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

and

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

patrols in sensitive public areas and spot checks across the country.

Jean-Louis Bruguière Jean-Louis Bruguière (born 29 May 1943) was the leading French investigating magistrate in charge of counter-terrorism affairs. He was appointed in 2004 vice-president of the Paris Court of Serious Claims ('' Tribunal de Grande Instance''). ...

and

Jean-François Ricard Jean-François Ricard (born 14 July 1956) is a French magistrate, and since 25 June 2019 the first prosecutor of the National Terrorism Prosecution Office (; PNAT) a '' parquet'' for the prosecution of terrorism in France. Early life and education ...

were in charge of the bombing file. No group took responsibility for the attack, but the GIA was suspected of being behind the attack. However, unlike this bombing, the group had claimed all the bombings in the campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris RER bombing, 1996 RER bombing RER bombing 1996 murders in France Armed Islamic Group of Algeria 1996 RER bombing Attacks on railway stations in Europe December 1996 crimes December 1996 events in Europe Improvised explosive device bombings in 1996 1996 RER Mass murder in 1996 1996 RER bombing Terrorist incidents in France in 1996 Terrorist incidents on railway systems in Europe Terrorist incidents on underground rapid transit systems Building bombings in France