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A Air France Flight 8969 Conflict: Terrorism Captured: December 24, 1994 Released: December 26, 1994 In the early 1990s, Algeria was in a state of civil war. Pi­ lots knew that the condi- tions they encountered when flying over the country ­ were dangerous, from missile attacks in the air and on the ground. In late 1994, some airlines had discontinued ser­vice into Algiers, but Air France had not done so. However, the executives ­ were aware that the city was dangerous, and the airline had gone to volunteers for the flights in and out of Algiers. On the morning of December 24, 1994, Captain Bernard Delhemme, with the help of the crew, was preparing his Air France Airbus to return from Algiers to Paris. Preparations went as planned ­ until ­ after the passengers ­ were loaded. At that time, four Algerian presidential police boarded the plane to inspect passenger pass- ports. Though the men wore uniforms with Air Algerie log­os, their actions and presence unnerved some of the crew. Specifically, one of the flight attendants saw that the men ­ were very well armed and one carried dynamite, which was noticed as very unusual. The “inspection” was not an inspection, and the men pretending to be Algerian police ­ were part of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA). Unknown to the captain and crew, the terrorists planned to blow up the plane in Paris, over the Eiffel Tower. ­Because of the delay caused by the GIA, the plane did not leave as sched- uled, which alerted the Algerian military on the ground, and they surrounded the aircraft. At that point, the terrorists admitted to captain and crew that they ­were hijacking the airplane, and that they viewed the French, and by proxy, Air France, as infidels. They took full control of the plane while on the ground in Algeria. The leader of GIA was well known. Abdul Abdullah Yahia was considered a dangerous man, and the other three members of the group carried assault ­ rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, and dynamite packs. At one point, two of the ter- rorists changed into the pi­lot and copi­lot’s uniforms so that any snipers would not know they ­ were terrorists. Additionally, they forced the passengers to follow strict Islamic beliefs, such as men and ­women sitting separately and the ­women cover- ing their heads. The hijackers ­ were unpredictable, and throughout the event they switched from calm control to terrorist tactics, keeping their prisoners in a state of unease and excitement. By noon, the media had also arrived on scene to cover the events. The Algerian military and minister of interior began negotiations, working with Captain Del- hemme, who was forced to speak for the hijackers. The demands of the GIA ­ were