Ten suspected terrorists stand trial in Paris today for a foiled plot to bomb the famed Christmas market in the eastern French city of Strasbourg on New Year's Eve 2000.
Four of the men allegedly trained in the use of arms and explosives in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
They and their six alleged accomplices are accused of being members of the so-called "Frankfurt group" - named for the German city where the bomb plot was hatched.
German police arrested four men, all Algerians, in Frankfurt in December 2000. A map of Strasbourg and a home-made videotape of the Christmas market and Strasbourg's cathedral were found.
The four were convicted in Germany in March 2003 and sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison. The German court said the group had planned to blow up pressure cookers packed with explosives, a technique they learned in Afghan camps.
The Algerians' 10 alleged co-plotters standing trial in Paris face up to 10 years imprisonment if convicted of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise."
One of the top four suspects, Mr Mohamed Bensakria, is considered one of bin Laden's lieutenants in Europe. He was extradited from Spain in the summer of 2001.
AP