Thalys attack trial: heroism stronger than fanaticism

On August 21, 2015, the Thalys 9364 connecting Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Paris recently left Brussels (Belgium) station.

166 passengers are on board.

Shortly after 5.30pm, Damien A. heads for the toilets between cars 12 and 13. He waits a few minutes when he sees a man leaving the premises, shirtless, a backpack on his stomach and a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder.

He describes him as “focused” and “determined”.

Instinctively, he grabs him by the neck and blocks him between the sliding door and the luggage rack for about ten seconds before the assailant escapes.

Damien A. is the first hero of this afternoon.

Without him or those who will intervene just as courageously after him, Ayoub El Khazzani would probably have committed carnage in this train.

His trial, as well as that of three men accused of having lent him a hand in his disastrous terrorist project, opens this Monday before the specially composed assize court in Paris.

A file over which hangs the shadow of Abdelhamid Abaaoud and the future attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris and March 21, 2016 in Brussels.

In this Thalys, Mark Moogalian travels with his wife.

This American traveler is intrigued to see a man entering the bathroom with his suitcase.

He approaches the platform and, too, faces the armed assailant.

After asking his wife to run away, he returns to help Damien A. and manages to seize Ayoub El Khazzani's machine gun.

Suddenly he feels a sharp pain in his shoulder.

Even if he partially disputes it, the terrorist is accused of having fired a pistol bullet in his back.

The American believes his last hour has arrived.

Seriously injured - the bullet will come out at his neck - he will be successfully operated on.

The composure of three American soldiers

It was then that three other Americans - three soldiers on a private trip - took action.

Reservist in the army, Aleksander Skarlatos has just sent an SMS when he hears a detonation and the sound of broken glass.

He turns and sees a man brandishing a handgun.

He immediately alerts his friend Spencer Stone, slightly dozing by his side: "Go Spencer", he intends to him.

A member of the US Air Force, the latter rushes towards Ayoub El Khazzani, causes him to fall to the ground and manages to immobilize him by practicing a choke key.

At the same time, Alek Skarlatos manages to disarm the terrorist who then grabs his second weapon, then a cutter.

Anthony Sadler, the third thief, helps.

After receiving several blows from the butt of a Kalashnikov on the temple, Ayoub El Khazzani lost consciousness before being tied up.

The alert was given, the train stopped at Arras station at 6:12 p.m.

Apart from Mark Moogalian, Spencer Stone has knife wounds to his neck and hand.

But the attack did not kill anybody.

A miracle.

The three Americans are expected to come and testify.

Anthony Sandler, Spencer Stone and Aleksander Skarlatos (from left to right) were received by François Hollande and decorated with the Legion of Honor for their bravery ./LP/Philippe Lavieille  

The investigation will show that this attack was planned from Syria by Daesh's external operations cell.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the future coordinator of the November 13 attacks, who died in the assault on his alcove in Saint-Denis, is on the move.

His DNA will be found on one of the nine chargers the assailant was in possession of.

Involved in the November 13 case, Mohamed Bakkali will also be tried in this Thalys case.

He is suspected of having served as a driver, which he disputes.

Returned from Syria with Abdelhamid Abaaoud via the migrant route

Ayoub El Khazzani, now 31, grew up in Morocco before moving to Spain with his parents when he came of age.

There, he stood out for his links with radicalized people who had left for Syria.

In 2014, he spent four months in France before joining his sister in Belgium where he made a living by selling clothes in the markets.

In May 2015, he went to Turkey and then to Syria where he made a brief stay of one week.

Taken in hand by the Islamic State, he receives training in the handling of weapons and says he is ready to die for the terrorist organization.

He then received the mission to return to Europe.

A climb that he will perform in the company of Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

The two men will take the migrant route to reach the Old Continent.

A man precedes them: Bilal Chatra.

This 25-year-old Algerian joined Daesh in Syria at the start of 2015. There, he underwent training - in particular sniper training - and got closer to Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

During his hearings, he will admit having served as a scout across the Balkans to his mentor and to Ayoub El Khazzani: it is essentially a question of allowing them to avoid controls and fingerprints.

Ayoub El Khazzani, author of the attack on the Thalys in the summer of 2015./DR  

According to the prosecution, Bilal Chatra would have gone as far as Brussels from where he fled when he learned that Abaaoud intended to integrate him into his project.

His DNA was thus found on the suitcase acquired by Ayoub EL Khazzani to store his arsenal.

“My client recognizes his role as a scout but disputes the knowledge of any specific project on the part of those for whom he was leading the way, insists his lawyer Me Léa Dordilly.

He always said he was planned to go all the way to Germany and refused to go any further.

He broke up with them despite the two men's reminders a few days before the facts.

"

Clint Eastwood, director of a film on the attack, called as witness

During the investigation, Ayoub El Khazzani assured that the objective that Abaaoud had assigned to him was to attack the American soldiers present in the Thalys and that he had refused to kill other passengers.

In the eyes of the investigating judges, this thesis is "not credible": the three friends wore no distinctive sign on them and nothing could have allowed anyone to anticipate their presence in this train and in this train.

"My client apprehends this trial but he is impatient to be able to explain himself", indicates his lawyer M e Sarah Mauger Poliak.

The penalist called as witness Clint Eastwood, author of a film on this abortive attack.

The director did not seem to follow up.

His presence before the Assize Court appears more than hypothetical.

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VIDEO.

Heroes of the Thalys: "Few men would have had this courage"