Gunman well prepared for France train attack, prosecutor says

Before he assembled his weapon in the toilet compartment between two train cars on Friday, El Khazzani sat on the train – bound for Paris from Amsterdam – listening on his phone to a YouTube file of “an individual calling his followers to combat and urging them to take up arms in the name of the Prophet”, Molins said, saying this was an indication of his terrorist intent.

But Khazzani was stopped in his tracks by several French passengers, two young American off-duty servicemen, their student friend and a 62-year-old British consultant who have since been awarded France’s top honour, the Legion d’Honneur.

El-Khazzani has denied terrorism plans and said he stumbled upon a bag of weapons and decided to use them to rob passengers.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins has said El-Khazzani watched a jihadi video on his cellphone moments before the attack and that – although he claimed to be homeless – he used a first-class ticket.

Such evidence will now enable the French to keep El Khazzani in custody as he eventually faces a criminal trial for “attempted murders in relation to a terrorist enterprise”.

He boarded the train Friday at a Brussels station.

Alleged gunman Ayoub El-Khazzani was known to belong to a radical movement, French Prosecutor Francois Molins said at a news conference Tuesday. Prosecutors have formally charged suspect Ayoub El-Khazzani with terrorism.

Khazzani also travelled to Turkey and back in May and June this year, seen as a possible sign that he went to war-torn Syria where the Islamic State group controls swathes of territory.

He boarded the Thalys high-speed train in Brussels where security has been stepped up as Europe considers how to tackle the risk of terror on its railway network.

Speaking after the ceremony, Norman said: “I think that one way or another, we are going to be facing this kind of problem quite a few times in the future, and I would invite you all to think about ‘what would I do in that situation?'”.

At 17:35, authorities say, he opens the bathroom door. Stone, who arrived Monday, seemed in good spirits, smiling and shaking hands with officials at the hospital.

He says Stone is being treated for a laceration to his thumb, for which a full recovery is expected with ongoing therapy, as well as a “non-critical” eye injury and other minor wounds. His actions appeared targeted and premeditated.

One of them, Briton Chris Norman, told CNN on Tuesday that he preferred to die trying to stop the man, rather than sitting and waiting for a near-certain death.