In court, extremist foiled by 3 tourists who inspired Clint
A TERRORIST trying to massacre passengers on a high-speed train was tackled by three tourists whose heroics inspired a Hollywood film, a court heard yesterday.
At the opening of the trial of Ayoub El Khazzani, a judge said the Moroccan wanted to kill everyone on the Amsterdam to Paris express but ‘lost control of events’. One of the Americans who tackled the 31-year-old fanatic, who was armed to the hilt, told police he seemed high on drugs and ‘completely crazy’.
A lawyer for the two US servicemen and their friend said their heroics during the drama in August 2015 thwarted a ‘slaughter’. Their dramatic capture of El Khazzani inspired Clint Eastwood’s movie The 15:17 To Paris. ‘This terror attack could have killed up to 300 people based on the ammunition found on the terrorist,’ said the lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial.
The trial opening in Paris was largely taken up with procedural issues, including whether Eastwood’s presence was needed.
The 90-year-old actor-director has not yet responded to a summons to give evidence at the trial next week.
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. He i s charged with attempted murder.
His lawyer, Sarah MaugerPoliak, said El Khazzani ‘regrets having allowed himself to become indoctrinated’ by Islamic State propaganda.
Three others, who were not on the train, are being tried as alleged accomplices.
The trial ties into the massacre of 130 people in Paris three months later at the Bataclan music hall and elsewhere.
The suspected mastermind of those assaults, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, allegedly worked behind the scenes in the train attack . Prosecutors s ay Abaaoud and El Khazzani had travelled together from Syria
‘Brandishing a Kalashnikov’
to Belgium. French special forces killed Abaaoud days after the Bataclan attack.
In the train drama El Khazzani emerged from a toilet bare-chested and brandishing the Kalashnikov. A French-American, Mark Magoolian, wrestled the Kalashnikov away before El Khazzani shot him with a pistol.
Spencer Stone, then a 23year- old US airman, said he was sleeping when Alek Skarlatos, then a 22-year- old US National Guardsman, ‘hit me on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”’ The Californian pair tackled the gunman, with help from a third man, Anthony Sadler, 23, then a student.
Mr Stone said he choked El Khazzani unconscious. The train was diverted and police arrested him in Arras.