The Attacker of the Amsterdam-Paris Train Had Lived in Spain for a While

Spanish authorities confirmed in the late hours of Saturday, August 22, that the perpetrator of the high-speed Amsterdam-Paris train attack, who was arrested by several passengers on Friday, had lived in Spain for seven years. According to Reuters, this 26-year-old Moroccan man moved to Algeciras in southern Spain after three years in Madrid. It was previously reported that the assailant had been monitored by French police as a dangerous individual. Meanwhile, three American men, one Frenchman, and one Briton who saved the lives of the Amsterdam-Paris train passengers by apprehending and disarming the Moroccan man have been hailed as heroes. Spencer Stone, an Air Force officer, and Alek Skarlatos, a member of the U.S. National Guard, along with their American-French friend Anthony Sadler, were on the train when they heard gunfire and glass breaking. The Associated Press reported that they immediately sprang into action and disarmed Ayoub El Khazzani, the 26-year-old armed Moroccan. Before the three Americans, a French man was the first to jump on the Moroccan man in an attempt to stop him, and a British businessman also came to his aid. During this incident, three people, including Spencer Stone, were injured. Mr. Stone was wounded by Ayoub El Khazzani's knife. The attacker was armed with an automatic Kalashnikov rifle, a pistol, and a knife. Jean-Hugues Anglade, a French actor present on the train, was the one who broke the glass to sound the alarm. François Hollande, the President of France, and the White House have praised those who saved the train passengers. Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Interior Minister, stated that the Spanish security service had previously warned Paris about Ayoub El Khazzani's membership in radical Islamist groups. Ayoub El Khazzani lived in Spain until 2014 and then traveled to Syria via France. In this regard, a security source told Reuters that he traveled from Berlin to Turkey on May 10 of this year. According to reports, Islamist fighters use Turkey as a route to reach Syria. Reports indicate that Ayoub El Khazzani later returned to France, then went to Belgium, and after a while boarded a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris at a station in Brussels. Unlike airplanes, passengers and their luggage on passenger trains in Europe are not inspected. Mr. El Khazzani, who was handed over to the French police by the train passengers in Arras, was transferred on Saturday morning, August 31, for interrogation to the headquarters of the French anti-terrorism police in Paris. France has been the target of several terrorist operations over the past year, the most famous of which involved two Muslim brothers attacking the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing cartoonists and employees of the magazine.