Trial begins for suspect in foiled France train attack
PARIS – Head lowered, an Islamic State operative listened silently as a Paris judge on Monday detailed his alleged plot to unleash mass slaughter on a high-speed train before he was tackled and subdued by American vacationers whose heroics inspired Clint Eastwood to direct a Hollywood reenactment, “The 15:17 to Paris.”
Opening a monthlong trial for Ayoub El Khazzani, the judge said the 31-yearold Moroccan with ties to a notorious mastermind intended to “kill all the passengers” aboard the Amsterdam to Paris train in 2015 but “lost control of events.”
El Khazzani, who is on trial with three suspected accomplices, acknowledged the charges against him with a simple “Yes.”
He risks life in prison if convicted of attempted terrorist murder.
The heavily armed and bare-chested El Khazzani wounded a French-american who managed to briefly yank a Kalashnikov from his hands before the three vacationing Americans took him down.
The drama on the train is portrayed by investigators as one of a series of ISlinked attacks in Europe that include the Nov. 13, 2015, massacre in Paris at a music hall and cafes that killed 130 people. A failed 2015 attack in Verviers, Belgium, and 2016 attacks in Brussels are also among them.
The suspected mastermind of the Paris massacre, Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, also worked as behind-the-scenes leader of the train attack, according to investigators. Their probe showed that
Abaaoud and El Khazzani traveled together from Syria to Belgium and holed up with Chatra in a Brussels apartment.
French special forces killed Abaaoud days after the Bataclan attack.
The alleged train attack plot went awry when passengers moved in on El Khazzani.
One of the Americans who tackled the gunman told investigators that he seemed high on drugs and “completely crazy,” the judge said.
A lawyer for the two U.S. servicemen and their friend, whose electrifying capture of El Khazzani inspired Eastwood’s movie, said their heroics during the drama on Aug. 21, 2015, thwarted a “slaughter.”
“This terror attack could have killed up to 300 people based on the number of ammunition that was found on the terrorist and in his bag,” said the attorney, Thibault de Montbrial.
With El Khazzani and his three alleged accomplices seated behind protective glass in a heavily secured courtroom, the trial opening was largely taken up with procedural issues including whether Eastwood’s presence is needed.
That question was resolved at day’s end, with the court deciding no because he wasn’t a direct witness, French media reported. The three Americans hailed as heroes – Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler – are to testify.
El Khazzani boarded the train in Brussels armed with a Kalashnikov, nine clips with 30 rounds each, an automatic pistol and a cutter, according to investigators. A bottle of high flammable yellow liquid also was found in a black suitcase, the judge said.