The terrorist attack was miraculously countered by passengers, including American servicemen on vacation. On August 21, 2015, they succeeded in disarming Ayoub El Khazzani. This Moroccan, then 26 years old, had just shot Kalashnikovs and injured two men in the Thalys 9 364 connecting Amsterdam to Paris.
He is judged from this Monday November 16, especially for attempted assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise
. With three other defendants, suspected of helping to prepare for the attack. They are Bilal Chatra, 24, and Mohamed Bakkali, 33, dismissed for complicity. Then of Redouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi, 32 years old, having to answer, him, of terrorist association.
Returned from Syria with Abaaoud
The Khazzani, which Thalys passengers had tied up with a tie, was arrested at Arras station. He remained silent for a long time before admitting to having boarded the train in Brussels as a jihadist
, with assault rifle, handgun and nearly 300 ammunition. While also claiming to have given up on his project at the last second, too late to avoid a fight.
The objective, he explained to the examining magistrate, was to target the US military, in retaliation for the bombing in Syria, and not civilians
. A request according to him from Abdelhamid Abaaoud, coordinator of the cell Islamic state
behind attacks in France and Belgium in 2015 and 2016.
Americans at home
A thesis “not credible
for investigators. According to them, the presence of the Americans did not could be anticipated ”.
Adding that Abaaoud was preparing during this period the attacks aimed at murder as many people as possible
. Those of November 13 in Paris and Saint-Denis, where he was shot dead shortly after by the police.
It was with him that Ayoub El Khazzani, who left for Syria in May 2015, returned to Europe by taking the migrant route. At the beginning of August, they returned to Belgium where the accused had already lived for a year, after a stay in France and seven years in Spain.
The Americans who confronted him on the train are scheduled to attend the trial, scheduled until December 17. They want to tell
and the look in the eyes
, said their counsel, Me Thibault de Montbrial. They had played their own part in a film about the attack, directed by Clint Eastwood. The latter should also be heard as a witness by videoconference.
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