US army officials thwart terror attack on train to Paris
It's very lucky these army members were traveling aboard a train heading from Amsterdam to Paris, because the train staff didn't show proper courage to deal with this themselves (Hat tip: Hot Air):
Update: here's more exact confirmation of the attempted gunman's identity:
Update 2: here's more about the brave men who defeated the terrorist.
The struggle was brief, bloody and chaotic.The suspect was identified as a Moroccan terrorist known to authorities in Spain. The soldiers and French rider who took down the filth did the right thing to spring into action, and saved many people from a more serious disaster.
The high-speed train was zipping from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday when a shirtless man emerged from the bathroom — a rifle slung over his shoulder, witnesses said.
A French passenger and three Americans — a civilian, an Air Force member and a National Guard member — jumped into action. They quickly tackled him, possibly averting a massacre aboard the train.
By the time the suspect was subdued, three people had nonlife-threatening injuries, said Anthony Blondeau, a spokesman for Arras city in northern France, where the train pulled up after the incident and the suspect was arrested. One of the Americans was among the injured.
Update: here's more exact confirmation of the attempted gunman's identity:
A French official close to the investigation says police have positively identified the train gunman as 26-year-old Moroccan Ayoub El-Khazzani. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier Saturday that Spanish authorities had alerted French intelligence to him in February 2014 because he "belonged to the radical Islamist movement," and the French put him on a security watch list. El-Khazzani was identified through his fingerprints, according to the official, who insisted on not being identified by name because of the ongoing probe.The reason why he was able to smuggle a gun and box cutting knife aboard the train is because, although there are armed soldiers guarding stations, they don't use metal detectors and bag searches. Well they're going to have to change all that if they really want the rides to be safe.
Update 2: here's more about the brave men who defeated the terrorist.
Labels: France, islam, jihad, military, Netherlands, racism, Spain, terrorism, United States, war on terror
