Terrorizing Europe
"El-Khazzani watched a video of Islamic preaching onboard [on YouTube on his mobile phone then proceeded through the train with his weapons]."
French prosecutor Francois Molins, Paris
"[France remains] exposed [to violent extremism and] this aggression [Amsterdam-to-Paris train] is new proof that we should prepare ourselves for other assaults."
French President Francois Hollande
Ayoub El-Khazzani travelled trough a number of European countries. Spain had repeatedly imprisoned him. He had been flagged for surveillance in France. He lived in Brussels, in Cologne and in Vienna. And despite that authorities in all countries appear to have been aware that he was a potential Islamist threat, somehow it slipped their notice that he continued to be a man whose actions and intentions required ongoing monitoring.
Now the 26-year-old ethnic Moroccan is the subject of a formal investigation, and investigating magistrates are prepared to file preliminary charges against him, inclusive of multiple counts of attempted murder, possession of weapons and participation in a terrorist conspiracy. Ayoub El-Khazzani, under questioning by authorities, insists he had no terrorism plans.
The weapons in his possession at the time of his foiled attack on train passengers were not his. He had discovered them cached in a Brussels park, took possession of them, and laid plans to use them for the purpose of robbing passengers. He informed the lawyer representing him that he was homeless, unemployed and hungry. Investigators doubt those claims, since he had a first-class train ticket.
He had with him an assault rifle, 270 rounds of ammunition, a pistol, a box-cutter and a bottle of gasoline. Well armed indeed to conduct a simple robbery escapade. Only by the fact that he was subdued immediately he initiated his attack, by three extremely alert American passengers with military training, was he kept from fulfilling his plans.
Assuming his intention was indeed terrorism, he did succeed to a remarkable degree, despite the interruption in his plans. Terror did emerge. And in its wash, another alert that Europe's security lapse has been exposed; how to protect public places from determined attackers underlined in screaming headlines....
Labels: Belgium, France, Islamism, Jihad, Morocco, Netherlands, Spain
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 27, 2015
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