Moroccan charged with terror attack on French train

Prosecutors charged a Moroccan national, Ayoub El-Khazzani, over last week's attack on a high-speed French train, accusing him of a "targeted and premeditated" assault that would have ended in carnage if passengers had not intervened.

He was charged late Tuesday with attempted murder of a terrorist nature and has been remanded in custody, according to Paris prosecutor François Molins, who said Khazzani boarded a Thalys train in Brussels on Friday, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 270 rounds of ammunition, a Luger pistol, a bottle of gasoline and a box cutter.

Khazzani, 25, walked out of a toilet cubicle, armed and shirtless, and several passengers tried to overpower him. He was wrestled to the floor and subdued by Alek Skarlatos, 22, of the Oregon National Guard; Spencer Stone, 23, of the U.S. Air Force; Anthony Sadler, 23, a California State University student; and Chris Norman, 62, a British consultant. The four men have since been given France's top honor, the Legion d'Honneur.

Two passengers were wounded in the attack.

Khazzani has said that he was planning only to rob passengers, but Molins said that that claim was "barely credible" and that he stopped responding to police entirely on Monday.

In announcing the charges, Molins presented what he said is evidence indicating that Khazzani's actions were part of a "targeted and premeditated" plot. The prosecutor said that Khazzani flew back in June from a town in southern Turkey, "a possible passageway into Syria," and that he watched a video "calling for violent acts in the name of radical Islam" on his phone before launching the attack. 

Molins raised questions about how Khazzani was able to afford a $171 first-class train ticket, given that he was allegedly homeless in Brussels. Molins dismissed as "absurd" Khazzani's assertion that he found a stash of weapons and a mobile phone in a park where he had been sleeping.

Ticket sellers at the station have told investigators that Khazzani paid in cash and turned down an earlier train with available seats, Molins said. Prosecutors say this indicates that Khazzani planned to find a crowded train.

Among the charges he faces are multiple counts of attempted murder, possession of weapons and conspiracy.

Khazzani had been on the radar of several European intelligence agencies, according to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. He lived in Spain for seven years until 2014, French authorities said, where he came to the attention of authorities for making comments defending "jihad" and being involved in drug trafficking.

Molins said Khazzani spent time in France in 2014 working for mobile phone operator Lycamobile. The head of the firm said Khazzani was employed for two months and left because he did not have the necessary work papers.

In May, Germany tracked him flying from Berlin to Istanbul — seen as a possible sign that he traveled to Syria, said Germany Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth. In June he landed in Albania, and on Aug. 21, he boarded the Amsterdam-Paris train in Brussels.

Belgium has opened a probe into the attack. Police there searched the homes of Khazzani's sister and one of his friends in Brussels, where he was believed to have spent several days. Belgian prosecutors said police questioned his sister, who was later released.

Meanwhile, the city of Sacramento said it would organize a parade to honor the three Americans who tackled the gunman. Skarlatos will receive the U.S. Army's highest noncombat honor, the Soldier's Medal, for "extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty," the military said in a statement Tuesday. Stone has been nominated for the Airman's Medal, the U.S. Air Force's top noncombat award for bravery.

Al Jazeera and wire services