1981 Ajaccio airport bombing
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5:23 p.m.
| 1981 Ajaccio airport bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Corsican conflict | |
 View of the Ajaccio airport terminal, the scene of the attack. | |
| Location | Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport, Ajaccio, Corsica, France |
| Date | 16 April 1981 5:23 p.m. |
| Target | Valéry Giscard d’Estaing |
Attack type | Bomb attack |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Injured | 8 |
| Perpetrators | National Liberation Front of Corsica |
On 16 April 1981, the Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport was targeted with two large time bombs[1] placed in the airport terminal in an attempt to assassinate French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who had landed in Corsica for a presidential visit only two minutes before the bombs detonated.[2] Giscard was only 500 yards (457.20 m) away at the time of the explosion.[1]
The bombing killed one person and injured eight, and it remains one of the most notable attacks in a French airport.[2]
On 5 May 1976, the National Liberation Front of Corsica formed, the first of its name. This scaled the Corsican conflict from a low-level insurgency to a large-scale guerrilla conflict, similar to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Attacks were nearly nightly, with 240 attacks just from January to April 1981.[3]
By 1980 the conflict had escalated significantly. In January 1981, the “Battle of Bastelica-Fesch” occurred, in which FLNC members held back forces of both the French police and members of the pro-French New Action Front Against Independence and Autonomy, who had entered the town in an attempt to assassinate a separatist politician living there. Attacks on the French mainland were also becoming increasingly common, such as the 1980 Iranian embassy attack in Paris.[4]
On 1 April 1981, the FLNC declared a temporary truce to not hinder the left in the 1981 presidential election, as the French left was more sympathetic to Corsican independence or autonomy than the right wing, centered around then current French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Their hostility towards Giscard and the right-wing parties remained, however.[3]