Ephemeris of September 17 in Paris: Bomb attack in front of Tati, rue de Rennes

On Wednesday September 17, 1986, a bomb exploded outside the Tati store at 140 rue de Rennes. A bomb exploded, killing seven people and injuring 55 others. It was the latest in a series of fourteen violent attacks carried out by a pro-Iranian terrorist network on behalf of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which plunged Paris into mourning in 1985 and 1986 , killing a total of 13 people and injuring 303 others.

During the month of September 1986, in just two weeks, Paris was the victim of no less than six terrorist attacks claimed by the Comité de solidarité avec les prisonniers politiques arabes et du Proche-Orient (Committee for Solidarity with Arab and Near Eastern Political Prisoners) in order to put pressure on France to stop supporting Iraq in its conflict with Iran, and to obtain the release of other terrorists detained by the French state.

The first failed attack of this"black September" took place on September 4 in the RER at Gare de Lyon station, during rush hour. This was followed by an attack on theHôtel de Ville on September 8, a bomb attack at La Défense on September 12, another on the Champs-Elysées on September 14, and an attack on the police headquarters the next day. Paris was a tense place, and the police, powerless to intervene, were on the alert. In the Rue de Rennes, the sixth and final attack, the deadliest of the series, put an end to this bloody period.

• To be read
• November 13th Terror Attacks: the memorial garden project in Paris unveiled
• Ephemeris for August 21 in Paris: First deadly Resistance attack on the Barbès metro station
• Ephemeris for September 15 in Paris: Attack on the Publicis drugstore in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

It's a hot day on September 17, 1986, and Parisians are out and about, strolling past the store windows on rue de Rennes in the Montparnasse district, one of the capital's busiest shopping streets. At 5.20pm, two men in a black BMW placed a bomb in a municipal garbage can, less than 3 metres from the windows of the Tati store.

As in previous attacks, the Lebanese terrorists chose a crowded public place in order to cause maximum casualties and provoke stupor and fear in the country. Filled with filings and upholstery nails, thedevice exploded, injuring 55 people and killing 7 others: René Bastong, Audrey Benghozi, Claudie Béral, Amil Mamadali, Linda Medioni Lajus, Micheline Peyrat and Moktar Tahirali.

The leader of the terrorist commando responsible for this series of attacks, Fouad Ali Saleh, was arrested on March 21, 1987 by police officers from the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, and his network was dismantled. On April 14, 1992, the head of the pro-Iranian terrorist network was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, with an eighteen-year prison term.

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