http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir010924_1_n.shtml

Not for the first time

The only previous attempt by a terrorist group to use a passenger airliner to mount an airborne suicide attack was in December 1994. To punish France for its assistance to the Algerian government and to draw international attention to the Algerian conflict, the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Armée Islamique – GIA) hijacked Air France Airbus A-300 Flight 8969 in Algiers on 24 December 1994. Of the 227 passengers, 40 were French nationals. After the GIA had released some women and children, but murdered three passengers, the Algerian authorities permitted the aircraft to leave for France. The intention of the GIA cell, led by the 25-year-old Abdul Abdallah Yahia, alias Abou, was to crash a fully fuelled plane into the Eiffel Tower in the heart of Paris. The French consulate in Oran, meanwhile, had received an anonymous warning that the ultimate aim was to blow the aircraft up in mid-air over Paris. Further debriefing of the passengers released in Algiers revealed that the four GIA hijackers were carrying explosives on board, had requested and received a wristwatch from a passenger and had discussed ‘martyrdom’.