Trial begins in France over foiled train attack which inspired Hollywood film

AN operative of so-called Islamic State listened silently as a judge detailed his alleged plot to unleash mass slaughter on a high-speed train before he was tackled and subdued by American tourists whose heroics inspired a Hollywood film.

Opening a month-long trial for Ayoub El Khazzani, the judge said the 31-year-old Moroccan with ties to a notorious terror mastermind intended to “kill all the passengers” aboard the Amsterdam to Paris train in 2015 but “lost control of events”.

One of the Americans who tackled the bare-chested gunman, who was laden with an arsenal of weapons and shot another passenger, told investigators that he seemed high on drugs and “completely crazy”, the judge said.

A lawyer for the two US servicemen and their friend, whose electrifying capture of El Khazzani inspired Clint Eastwood’s movie The 15:17 To Paris, said their heroics during the drama on August 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 lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial. With El Khazzani in court and watched by security officers, the trial opening was largely taken up with procedural issues including whether Eastwood’s presence is needed.

That question was not resolved. The actor-director has so far not responded to a summons.

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 is charged with attempted terrorist murder. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

His lawyer, Sarah Mauger-poliak, said El Khazzani “regrets having allowed himself to become indoctrinated” by extremist propaganda and wants “to demonstrate his remorse”. Three others, who were not on the train, are being tried as alleged accomplices.