A gunman, who injured two folks on a high-speed train in France on Friday, was doubtless listed within the EU as a suspected Islamist militant, French inside minister Bernard Cazeneuve mentioned, including that doubts in regards to the man’s identification nonetheless stay. “It is important to be careful about his identity, which is not yet established with certainty,” Cazeneuve is cited as saying by Reuters.
“If the identity he has declared is confirmed, he is a 26-year-old man of Moroccan nationality identified by the Spanish authorities to French intelligence services in February 2014 because of his connections to the radical Islamist movement.”
According to the minister, France will likely be working with different EU nations in an effort to “establish precisely the activities and travels of this terrorist.”
A supply throughout the investigation instructed Reuters that the perpetrator initially offered a special identification, which wasn’t identified to the safety officers.
According to Cazeneuve, the attacker instructed the investigation that he lived in Spain in 2014 and moved to Belgium this 12 months.
French safety sources instructed Le Voix du Nord newspaper that the perpetrator is suspected of getting visited Syria after being noticed on a airplane from Germany to Turkey this May.
The paper additionally mentioned that he was linked to a terrorist group behind an Islamist capturing in Belgium in January.
A Spanish counter-terrorism supply additionally instructed Reuters that the person had visited Syria, the place Islamic State and different radical terror teams management a big a part of the territory.
While residing within the Spanish port of Algeciras in 2014, “he went to France, then to Syria, and he returned to France,” the supply mentioned.
The attacker boarded the Thalys high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris with an arsenal on him, which included a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an computerized pistol with ammo and a field cutter knife, Cazeneuve mentioned.
However, he was unable to place his weapons to make use of as a consequence of being overpowered by the passengers, with two folks being wounded within the wrestle.
The brawl started when a Frenchman, on his option to the bathroom, tried to forestall the attacker from getting into the carriage.
He was then helped by two US troopers travelling on the train, one in every of whom – solely recognized as Spencer – was stabbed by the attacker, the minister mentioned.
Another man of Franco-American nationality was wounded – hit by a bullet whereas in is his seat.