Assault on train in France

On a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Aug. 21, a man armed with an AK-47, a pistol and a box cutter attacked passengers. A Franco-British man suffered a bullet wound, an American tourist suffered multiple stab wounds and a British tourist received minor injuries.

The attacker was identified as a Moroccan man who intelligence agencies already knew was supportive of the so-called Islamic State. Three American tourists and one British tourist restrained him on the train until authorities arrested him at the station in Arras, France.

The gunman’s lawyer said that the assailant was not motivated by terrorism or religious extremism and was not planning to commit mass murder but simply wanted to rob the train.

After the attack, the National Railway Company of Belgium announced that it would begin security screening of the luggage of train passengers boarding in Belgium