Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Saturday, August 22, 2015

France train shooting: Gunman known to police

by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Paris

1 hour ago


A heavily armed man who was overpowered on a train in France is thought to be known to the intelligence services, officials say.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the gunman is believed to be a 26-year-old Moroccan with links to the "radical Islamist movement".
He was restrained by passengers, including three Americans, two of whom are members of the armed forces.
They have been praised by the French and American presidents.
Mr Cazeneuve stressed that the identity of the suspect had not been "established with certainty".
But he said that the man, who is being questioned near Paris, had identified himself as someone who was flagged up to French authorities by their Spanish counterparts in February 2014.
French and Spanish media identified him as Ayoub El-Kahzzani. He is reported to have lived in France, Spain, and Belgium and to have travelled to Syria.
What we know

The incident happened on a high-speed Thalys service near the northern city of Arras on Friday.
When a French passenger tried to enter a toilet, he encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him.
A gun was fired and a French-American passenger was injured by the bullet.
The gunman was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle, an automatic pistol with ammunition clips, and a box cutter knife, Mr Cazeneuve said.
One of the Americans, Spencer Stone, seized the gunman, while a second, Alek Skarlatos, grabbed his guns, according to accounts from the passengers.
A friend of theirs, Anthony Sadler, and Chris Norman, a British man who lives in France, also helped restrain the attacker.


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