Leader of ISIL cell in Paris ‘ordered raid on train in France’

Key suspect breaks 16-month silence on Thalys attack

PARIS // The main suspect in a high-speed train attack thwarted by three Americans last year in northern France acted on orders from the leader of the ISIL cell that attacked Paris three months later, said his lawyer. Ayoub El Khazzani broke a 16- month silence to testify before a judge that he had received specific orders from ISIL chief Abdelhamid Abaaoud who told him to attack a Thalys express train in August last year.

His lawyer, Sarah Mauger-Poliak, said El Khazzani, 27, a Moroccan, was questioned at his request by a Paris counterterrorism judge this week for more than five hours. It was the first time he had agreed to answer questions about the case.

“He gave the judge the name of the person who instructed him to attack this specific Thalys train: it’s Abaaoud,” said Ms Mauger-Poliak.

French authorities had earlier linked El Khazzani to Abaaoud, without giving details. This is the first time that Abaaoud has been directly linked to the Thalys train attack or named as the man who ordered it.

Abaaoud died a few days after the Paris attacks in a police raid outside the capital.

During a hearing held behind closed doors on Wednesday, El Khazzani told the investigating judge that he made a trip to Syria and later travelled with Abaaoud in summer last year. The two men made several stops together, including one in Budapest, Hungary.

In front of the judge, the suspect presented himself as a “jihadist … a soldier who wanted to attack other soldiers”, said Ms Mauger-Poliak. “He never intended to commit mass killings of civilians. He was aiming at a specific target in a firstclass car of the train,” she said.

The lawyer said El Khazzani explained what the target was to the judge, but she declined to disclose it because the investigation was continuing.

Only the judge, the suspect and his lawyer were present at the hearing. Investigating judges are not allowed to speak publicly about an ongoing case, and it was not immediately possible to verify Ms Mauger-Poliak’s account.

El Khazzani decided to speak to the judge after 16 months of silence “because he wants to differentiate himself from the indiscriminate attacks” that killed 130 people in Paris in November last year and another 84 in Nice in July, said Ms Mauger-Poliak.

“He never wanted to do those kinds of things. That was not his mission,” she said.

During the judge’s questioning of El Khazzani in camera, “all the subjects were discussed, a general picture was made”, she said. El Khazzani was “moved” throughout his hearing, sometimes breaking down in tears.

A new hearing with the judge had been set for next week, and several more would follow because El Khazzani was now determined to talk, said Ms Mauger-Poliak.

Investigators are hoping that El Khazzani will provide key details on the Thalys attack, but also on the extremist network and the militants behind it and the Paris attacks. On the Thalys train bound for Paris, El Khazzani allegedly tried to open fire with an assault rifle but was overpowered by a group of passengers, including three childhood friends from California.