Trial Opens for Failed ISIS Attack on French Church

French Police officers intervene at the site where they discovered explosives and bomb components in an apartment, in Villejuif, a suburb of Paris, on September 6, 2017. (AFP)
French Police officers intervene at the site where they discovered explosives and bomb components in an apartment, in Villejuif, a suburb of Paris, on September 6, 2017. (AFP)
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Trial Opens for Failed ISIS Attack on French Church

French Police officers intervene at the site where they discovered explosives and bomb components in an apartment, in Villejuif, a suburb of Paris, on September 6, 2017. (AFP)
French Police officers intervene at the site where they discovered explosives and bomb components in an apartment, in Villejuif, a suburb of Paris, on September 6, 2017. (AFP)

A 29-year-old Algerian man is going on trial in Paris Monday accused of killing a policewoman and trying to blow up a church near Paris, a failed 2015 attack that investigators say was orchestrated by ISIS extremists in Syria.

Instead of bombing a Sunday Mass in the Paris suburb of Villejuif, Sidi Ahmed Ghlam shot himself in the leg, and was soon arrested.

The incident came amid a series of extremist attacks in 2015-2016 that rocked France. Another Paris court is currently holding a two-month trial into January 2015 attacks that killed 17 people at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.

While all the gunmen in those attacks were killed by police, Ghlam survived his attempted bombing three months later, and begins a monthlong trial starting Monday on charges of murder and attempted terrorist murder.

Ghlam, who faces life in prison if convicted, denies wrongdoing.

Nine other defendants will be tried alongside him. Seven are believed to have provided logistical assistance such as weapons and protective vests.

The other two are extremists accused of guiding his attempted attack, who are believed to be in Syria and possibly dead. The third sponsor, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed by police after allegedly coordinating the worst attacks on France since World War II, coordinated assaults on Nov. 13, 2015, on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France’s national stadium and multiple cafes.

Ghlam had been on the radar of authorities in Algeria and France for his proximity to ISIS. Investigators say he traveled to Turkey in late 2014 and early 2015 where he met Abaaoud and the other operatives.

On April 19, 2015, policewoman Aurelie Chatelain was shot to death in her car, which had been set on fire, near a church in Villejuif.

Soon afterward, Ghlam called for help, claiming to have been the victim of gunfire near his home, in the 13th arrondissement or district of Paris, not far from Villejuif. Doctors notified police.

Police believe Ghlam shot Chatelain and was in fact planning to carry out an attack against the Villejuif church.

According to investigators, Ghlam had to give up attacking the church after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while trying to put his weapon back in his belt.

Ghlam told investigators that he intentionally shot himself in the thigh, having second thoughts about carrying out the planned massacre.

He says the policewoman was accidentally killed by an accomplice named “Hamza.” None of the other suspects has mentioned this supposed accomplice.

Many weapons were found in his car and at home, and his computers showed frequent links to Syria. Ghlam acknowledged to investigators having been in contact and guided by three ISIS operatives: Abaaoud, Abdelnasser Benyoucef and Samir Nouad.

Benyoucef is also the alleged sponsor of Amédy Coulibaly, the gunman in the January 2015 kosher supermarket attack. Benyoucef and Nouad, a member of Algerian militant group GIA in the 1990s, are believed to have died in suicide attacks in Syria, and are being tried in absentia in the Villejuif case.



North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
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North Korean Leader Vows Support for Russia in its War on Ukraine

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, 12 July 2025 (Issued 13 July 2025). EPA/KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russia's top diplomat his country was ready to “unconditionally support” all actions taken by Moscow to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, state media has reported, as the two countries held high-level strategic talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a three-day visit to North Korea, which has provided troops and arms for Russia's war with Ukraine and pledged more military support as Moscow tries to make advances in the conflict, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Kim met Lavrov in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan where the two countries' foreign ministers held their second strategic dialogue, pledging further cooperation under a partnership treaty signed last year that includes a mutual defense pact.

Kim told Lavrov the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.

“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA said.

Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where he described the two nations' relations as “an invincible fighting brotherhood.”

The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit represented the continuation of “strategic dialogue” between the two sides inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year.

In a message passed on by Lavrov, Putin said that he hoped for more direct contacts in future, TASS news agency reported.

Lavrov, the ministry said, also thanked North Korea for the troops it had sent to Russia.

Relations between the two countries deepened during the conflict in Ukraine.

Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed during the months-long campaign to oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions.

Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, TASS reported.