Editing Algerian War of Independence (section)

=== Battle of Algiers ===
{{Main|Battle of Algiers (1956–57)}}
[[File:Bataille d'Alger.jpg|thumb|Algiers: Muslim quarters (green), European quarters (orange), terrorist attacks]]

To increase international and domestic French attention to their struggle, the FLN decided to bring the conflict to the cities and to call a nationwide general strike and also to plant bombs in public places. The most notable instance was the Battle of Algiers, which began on September 30, 1956, when three women, including [[Djamila Bouhired]] and [[Zohra Drif]], simultaneously placed bombs at three sites including the downtown office of [[Air France]]. The FLN carried out shootings and bombings in the spring of 1957, resulting in civilian casualties and a crushing response from the authorities.

General Jacques Massu was instructed to use whatever methods deemed necessary to restore order in the city and to find and eliminate terrorists. Using paratroopers, he broke the strike and, in the succeeding months, destroyed the FLN infrastructure in Algiers. But the FLN had succeeded in showing its ability to strike at the heart of French Algeria and to assemble a mass response to its demands among urban Muslims. The publicity given to the brutal methods used by the army to win the Battle of Algiers, including the use of torture, strong movement control and curfew called ''quadrillage'' and where all authority was under the military, created doubt in France about its role in Algeria. What was originally "pacification" or a "public order operation" had turned into a colonial war accompanied by torture.