Slimane Khalfaoui (born 1975, Algeria) was a French-Algerian terrorist convicted of the Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot in 2004 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was married to a French-Muslim woman during his arrest.[1]
Early life
Khalfaoui became a fugitive wanted by French authorities in 1996 for participating in an Algerian terrorist network that plotted to carry out attacks across France and Europe. In March 1998, Khalfaoui attended al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan with Ahmed Ressam from Montreal, Quebec, Canada and one of the members of the "millennium bombing".[2][3] He probably fought in Bosnia during the 1990s.
When the French police came to arrest him, he tried to escape from a second-floor window during an early morning raid at his sister's apartment in the Paris suburb east of Montfermeil, but he was overpowered and arrested a few minutes later.[5]
2004 Trial
Khalfaoui was charged and brought to trial alongside Mohammed Bensakhria and four more defendants at a French court in October 2004. Khalfaoui was sentenced to 10 years in jail in December 2004 for his role in the Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot.[6][7]