SHORT AND SHARP: UPDATE ON FOILED TERROR ATACK AGAINST AMSTERDAM TO PARIS TRAIN

 

By Patrick BAHZAD - updated on August 22nd, 7.30 am EST

 
In yet another case of "lone gunman syndrome", a potentially catastrophic terror attack was foiled yesterday by two US servicemen on the "Thalys" highspeed train going from Amsterdam to Paris.

 

As more details are trickling in about the incident that happened Friday afternoon, it has become clear to law enforcement that we are dealing again with a lone gunman/terrorist carrying out yet another isolated attack.

Although the French Ministry of the Interior has cautioned against jumping to conclusions, Belgian Prime-Minister Charles Michel has acknowledged that a major terror attack had been avoided. Given that the incident took place on a train between Belgium and France, two investigative teams (the French Counter-terrorism Task Force and the Belgian Federal Prosecution Office) are closely cooperating and currently looking into the events as well as into the alleged shooter's identity and past.

What happened and who was involved ?

It was 5.45 pm local time and the "Thalys" was just short of the border to France, when a man sitting in the last carriage of the highspeed train opened fire, shooting at least one round with his handgun and seriously wounding one man.

Among the passengers, who immediately ducked down, were three American tourists (two of them US servicemen) who saw the gunman pass them by as he was pursuing one of the train conductors. The shooter was trying to continue firing his handgun and was carrying an AK-47.

As it turned out, the primer of the AK was faulty, so that the rifle didn't go off when the shooter had first tried to use it. Instead he had picked a handgun out of his backpack but only managed to fire one bullet. Somehow, in his frenzy, he ejected the magasine of his weapon and carried on pulling the trigger as he went after the conductor. With no ammunition in the chamber and no magasine engaged, he was however unable to do anymore damage.

The two US servicemen, Spencer Stone (a member of the US Air Force stationed in the Azores) and Alek Skarlatos (US National Guard, who had returned from deployment in Afghanistan in July) went after the man and Stone tackled him to the ground. Skarlatos grabbed the AK and basically both men knocked the shooter out, with Stone getting wounded with a box cutter as he was holding the gunman in a choke hold. It was only after they had subdued him that they realized the weapons were not functional anymore.

Bravery and sheer luck

Initially described as two US Marines by a fellow American traveler aboard the train, the US servicemen showed decisive action and displayed outstanding bravery when confronting a man armed with two potentially deadly weapons.

It appears now that the AK-47 was either in bad condition, or that the shooter was not proficient enough with his weapons' handling to fix the primer malfunction. Although he would not have been able to use the assault rifle against other passengers (he had five full magasines in his backpack), the gunman could still have done some serious damage, had it not been for his poor skills.

Having realized he had lost the magasine of his 9 mm handgun, he was going for the toilet cubicle at the end of the carriage to reload his weapon, for which he had four extra magasines in his backpack. It was at that point, when he was confronted by a first passenger who blocked his way and tried to grab him, that the gunman turned and came face to face with Stone and Skarlatos who were running at him and took him down.

The suspect

Notwithstanding the weapon malfunction, the decisive behaviour of the two US military personnel might have made all the difference in what could have been a major terror attack with mass casualties. 

According to first evidence available at this point, the suspect's name is Ayoub El Khazzani, a 26 year old Morrocan national. If his identity is confirmed, which should't take long, he would fit an all too familiar profile and pattern.

Although he has only a Morrocan passport, Khazzani is a legal resident in the EU. Up until 2014, he lived in Spain and had been monitored by Spanish police for his dealings with radical Salafi networks. In 2014, he left Spain for Belgium or France (it's unclear at this point in which country he actually lived).

According to sources close to the investigation, he probably went to Syria at some stage in 2014 or 2015, and his name features on the passenger list of at least one flight from Germany to Istanbul during that period. Being only in contact with radical Salafi preachers and mosques however, he was not on a priority watch-list at that point.

It is only this year, after police raids Belgian authorities organised in January 2015 and which ended in a shoot-out in the city of Verviers, when three Jihad returnees from Syria were shot dead by Belgian SWAT, that El Khazzani's name was mentioned time and again in connection with investigations peripheral to the raids. At the time, no charges were pressed though, as the evidence against him was insufficient.

"Social media" Footprint and Connections to Morrocan Salafis

For the time being, Khazzani is giving inconsistent explanations to French CT police. Having first claimed he found the backpack and weapons in a public park in Brussels, he later stated his aim was to rob other passengers.

 A quick scan for his "social media" footprint shows the 26 year old had a number a acquaintances well introduced in the Salafi ideology and networks, mostly living in Spain and many of them coming from the same Morrocan town of Tétouan.

Interestingly, Tétouan has become a hotbed of Morrocan Salafis and other Islamist extremists. No later than two months ago, a public demonstration of the city's Salafi preachers and their followers had officially called for implementation of Sharia law in the country.

Khazzani's hometown has actually a long history as a hotbed of Jihadi terrorism. In January 2007, the most important Morrocan network sending fighters into Iraq was dismantled in Tétouan. At the time, 32 locals were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms.

Additionally, the five Morrocans who had perpetrated the terrible Madrid train attacks of 2004 were all from Tétouan. Three weeks after the bombings, they were rounded up by Spanish police and blew themselves up rather than surrender.

Finally, a large fraction of Morrocan suicide bombers in Iraq were also from Tétouan, more exactly from the neighborhood of "Jamaë Mezouak". No doubt, the lead into the Tétouan connection of alleged shooter Khazzani will be followed up closely by French and Belgian investigators.

Railroad security in the spotlight

If the scenario of a potential terror attack is confirmed, which is highly likely considering the circumstances, this would be the first attempted terrorist mass-killing aboard a passenger train.

The only other comparable incident that comes to mind is the so-called "Long Island Railroad Massacre" in 1993, a hate-crime which resulted in six deaths when the shooter, Colin Ferguson, opened fire on other passengers of the LIRR. However, terror attacks against trains - especially Islamist terror attacks - had always been carried out using explosives either on the train itself, the tracks or a railroad station.

A terrorist boarding a train with the intention to shoot other passengers using an assault rifle would be a new kind of nightmare scenario. Already, the discussion among counter-terrorism experts focuses on extra-security measures that might need to be implemented in order to secure train connections against this new threat.

Be that as it may, this would be the 9th attack happening in France in the past eight months. Whether we're dealing in this instance with of one more of these off-balance and self-radicalized young men, or with a more organised attack, remains to be seen.

Quite clearly, the gunman was no expert shooter - far from it - but the choice of the "Thalys" train in particular raises some interesting questions. This highspeed train, which connects Amsterdam to Paris, stopping at Brussels in particular (where Khazzani boarded the train) is an ideal target for the kind of organisations eager to disrupt major transportation systems in the EU, while at the same time hitting a high value target.

Questions about the targeted train connection

Unlike passenger planes, the "Thalys" trains and railroad stations are not subject to the same security screening. Basically, anybody with a valid ticket can get aboard. Furthermore, the "Thalys" can carry over 500 passengers at a time, which is more than most regular airliners.

The Amsterdam to Paris connection had been mentioned time and again by security and counter-terrorism experts as a likely target of any organisation or individual willing to carry out an attack: it usually carries lots of tourists (American and British in particular), as well as local businessmen and senior government officials (especially on the Brussels to Paris connection).

Brussels being home to both EU and NATO headquarters, and French as well as European and NATO officials often using the train to go to Paris and back, one may wonder whether it is pure coincidence the shooter boarded the train in Brussels, on a late Friday afternoon, when the "Thalys" is packed with tourists (it's the holiday season), with businessmen going away for the weekend, and with government officials heading home after the usual end of the week meetings at NATO or EU offices.

The casualties

The only and main upside to what could have been a catastrophic event, is that only two people were wounded in the attack: a first passenger who was shot and seriously wounded in the neck and back, although his injuries aren't life threatening, and US Air Force member Spencer Stone who sustained minor slash and cut wounds.

No doubt though that without the determination of the US servicemen, the incompetence of the shooter and the malfunction of his weapons, this incident would have taken a totally different course.

Comments

[Medicine Man]

God be with them.

[BabelFish]

Semper Fi, when it really counted.

[David Habakkuk]

Latest reports suggest nobody was seriously injured. It was a enormous stroke of luck that the marines were there, and behaved with such presence of mind and courage. All honour to them.

[Seamus Padraig]

Those jarheads deserve a medal.

[turcopolier]

All

News on the 22nd indicates that the two service members were a USAF man and an Army National Guardsman. pl

[Patrick Bahzad]

Yep, I'll update the info currently released for publication in a new post. There's more that can be said now about the gunman as well

[turcopolier]

PB

The initial reporting that the heroes were marines is funny and indicative of the general ineptitude of the press with regard to anything military. pl

[Patrick Bahzad]

DH,

You'll see I have updated the post. One passenger still sustained a serious gunshot wound to the back and neck, but it's not life-threatening.

[JMH]

An anticlimactic moment for the USMC PR department for sure.

[Patrick Bahzad]

I wouldn't be surprized if they get the Legion of Honour for what they did (talking about Alek Skarlatos - National Guard - and Spencer Stone - US Air Force - )

[Patrick Bahzad]

it was actually a quite attractive fellow American lady travelling on the same train who said they were Marines ... After that, it went viral ...

It was clear quite quickly that the guys involved were from different arms branch, but it was not made public until much later.

And of course, always look and sells better in the press, when the cavalry comes in the shape of two US Marines ! Too good a story to miss

[Farmer Don]

When you travel by train in Europe, you can just walk into the station with your bags and go directly into a train with out any security check. Lots of people don't even have tickets and just buy them from the conductor when he comes around.

Security largely is the result of a lack of people riding the train with an urge to kill others.

Not much different from life in general.

[Patrick Bahzad]

true but don't think this issue has not been thought about by people whose job it is to give the politics options and solutions.

implementing the kind of security screening you have at airports is impossible, as train transportation is very different in nature and structure to commercial flights.

what is probably about to change, is the level of security routinely provided on specific trains and lines.

[Jack]

Link to picture of the 3 out of 4 passengers that subdued the attacker. Spencer Stone who was injured is not in photo.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2015/aug/22/train-attack-near-arras-in-france-in-pictures#img-11

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/21/amsterdam-paris-train-gunman-france

[David Habakkuk]

Patrick Bahzad,

I am too ignorant about French decorations to know what is appropriate. But I do very much hope that, after due consideration, Skarlatos and Stone are appropriately recognised by the French government.

If we are to get out of the mess we are in, some restoration of older notions of honour and dishonour is clearly absolutely indispensable.

[Ulenspiegel]

Check the numbers, there are many many commuter trains in the morning and evening, no chance to check the passengers.

There could be of course more civil police officers on the trains, but there is no practical recipe for much higher security considering the size and number of trains.

[Allen Thomson]

A slightly technical question, but doesn't "the primer of the AK was faulty" mean that the primer in the chambered round didn't go off? If so, is this something that AK-47 rounds are known to do?

[The Beaver]

Jack

He is not in the photo because he was still being treated at the clinique in Lille when the Mayor of Arras rewarded them with a medal. It is only at 19:30 (French time) that he joined his buddies at the Police station of Arras ( the British citizen had already left to join his family somewhere in France since he resides in France)

[Farmer Don]

I was in no way criticizing the security of these trains.

My only point, if any, was that with all the vulnerable infrastructure, and unprotected people available everywhere, the very limited amount of attacks means that the number of people wanting, willing & able to do these types of things is very small indeed.

[Patrick Bahzad]

Think your point is valid, just that maybe law enforcement does a decent job also preventing some of the attacks way before they're likely to materialize.

However my follow up question regarding numbers of would be shooters is, how many people did it take to bring down those planes and buildings on 9/11 ? How Many did it take to launch the Bolshevik Revolution ?

Numbers alone are not the sole indicator that should be used to measure a risk or threat and any successful attack acts like a force multiplier and Echo chamber for the organisations taking credit and all the ideologically fragile youth who might want to emulate another gunman.

[aka]

Patrick Bahzad ,
sir a passengers got very lucky here seeing that his Ak jammed.

BTW, what kind of security measures are there to protect the train tracks?

It could be more devastating to derail a high speed train (while traveling in high speed) rather than on board shooting spree.

[turcopolier]

aka

Firearms seldom "jam." Usually the dummy can't make the action work because he is so excited. pl

[Ulenspiegel]

Farmer, I do not have any problem with critique. :-)

My point is that it is impossible to provide real security in trains, shopping malls and pedestrian areas, I assume we will see such attempts more often in future and some will succeed.

The question is how we react as society.

[confusedponderer]

In addition to that we're speaking of an AK, the epitome of a rifle that just doesn't jam, is really easy to use ... childsplay, so to speak, and readily available worldwide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzwdCCNwn4M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-IfKd2qwQ

[aka]

turcopolier & confusedponderer ,
So I have heard and hence the "luck". But I don't think we can forever hope for dumb and amateurish terrorists.

If ISIS is allowed to be, one day we might see terrorists with proper training and planning in action.