Thalys Train Gunman Says ‘Mass Massacre’ Was Not His Plan

The gunman who opened fire on a Thalys train last year has admitted his responsibility, but said he did not want to carry out a mass massacre, his lawyer said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On August 21, 2015, near Arras, 115 miles north of Paris, Ayoub El Khazzani, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, opened fire and injured three passengers on a Thalys train that was going from Amsterdam to Paris.

"He explains that it was as a jihadist that he got into this Thalys … but what he wanted to get across is that he wasn’t there to … kill anyone in the Thalys. Not at all," Sarah Mauger-Poliak said after Wednesday hearings, as quoted by Le Monde.

The lawyer added that Ayoub El Khazzani had a specific target and that it was no coincidence that he got into first class.

Investigators do not rule out that Khazzani, a 27-year old Moroccan, has ties to Daesh terrorist group, banned in Russia and a range of other countries.

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