Suspected train gunman ‘known to French intelligence’

Spanish security sources said the suspected attackerhad also travelled to Syria.

Published on France 24 August 23, 2015

The gunman involved in Friday’s apparent attempted mass shooting aboard a train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris may have already been known to intelligence services due to his links to radical Islam, authorities said Saturday.

Spanish security sources said the suspected attacker, who has been named as 26-year-old Moroccan national Ayoub el Khazzani, had also travelled to Syria.

French investigators were on Saturday questioning the suspect who was overpowered by a group of passengers, including two US servicemen.

Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, the man opened fire on board the high-speed train just after it crossed from Belgium into France on Friday evening.

“It is important to be careful about his identity which is not yet established with certainty,” French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters on Saturday... Read more.

Source : http://www.france24.com/en/20150822-france-train-attack-suspected-gunman-known-french-intelligence-syria