FRANCE-TRAIN/SUSPECTS COMMUNITY Gunman on French train was under surveillance in Spain

Record ID: 142854

  • Title: FRANCE-TRAIN/SUSPECTS COMMUNITY Gunman on French train was under surveillance in Spain
  • Date: 23rd August 2015
  • Summary: ALGECIRAS, SPAIN (AUGUST 23, 2015) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO NEIGHBOURHOOD WITH SIGNS READING (Spanish): "EL SALADILLO" VARIOUS OF TOWER BLOCK WHERE THE FAMILY AYOUB EL KHAZZANI LIVES WOMAN FROM ANOTHER BUILDING IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD LOOKING OUT WINDOW BUILDING IN NEIGHBOURHOOD CAT LOOKING OUT FROM BALCONY AND TURNING AWAY CLOTHES HANGING FROM BALCONY AND TORN SPANISH FLAG IN THE FOREGROUND VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS AT BAR TERRACE HAVING BREAKFAST VARIOUS PHONE AND INTERNET CENTRE NEXT TO MOROCCAN TEA SHOP PAINTING OF VEILED WOMAN ON TEA SHOP WALL VARIOUS OF GRAFFITI READING (Spanish): "BE CAREFUL, MOORS TAKE POWER" EXTERIOR OF CATHOLIC CHURCH CROSS PRIEST HOLDING MASS CROSS PRESIDENT OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE SOUTH OF ALGECIRAS KAMAL CHEDDAD OPENING DOOR TO OMAR MOKHTAR MOSQUE AND ENTERING VARIOUS OF CHEDDAD INSIDE MOSQUE CHEDDAD LEAVING MOSQUE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE SOUTH OF ALGECIRAS, KAMAL CHEDDAD, SAYING: "He was an ordinary young man, he played football, went fishing, he worked to make a living." SIGNAGE IN ARABIC ON MOSQUE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE SOUTH OF ALGECIRAS, KAMAL CHEDDAD, SAYING: "The authorities are doing a great job and we also thank the NATO soldiers that stopped him on the train. It was a great job, they deserve the medals." VARIOUS OF VAN WITH FURNITURE ON ROOF VARIOUS OF HORSES OUTSIDE TOWER BLOCKS
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA55EAS4YKGKCO5KKPCQ4PUZPD1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Moroccan gunman overpowered on a train in France was under surveillance when he lived in Spain, Spanish counter terrorism sources said. He spent time in the neighbourhood of El Saladillo in Algeciras, southern Spain where he lived with his parents before he moved to France in 2014, local media reported.
    The man was named by French and Spanish sources close to the case as Ayoub el Khazzani. Khazzani's parents still reside in El Saladillo, a multi-ethnic neighbourhood with a population of 15,000 people, where drug related crime runs high, police raids are not unusual and unemployment runs rife at over 40 percent, Spanish daily El País reported.
    At the local mosque in El Saladillo, which sits less than 100 metres from the neighbourhood's Catholic Church, Kamal Cheddad, President of the Muslim Community for the south of Algeciras, said he knew Khazzani although the family did not attend the mosque that Cheddad presides over.
    "He was an ordinary young man, he played football, went fishing, he worked to make a living," Cheddad said.
    Two people were wounded in the struggle to subdue the Kalashnikov-toting attacker aboard the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday (August 21). Three young Americans, one of whom suffered knife wounds, were among the passengers who stopped the gunman.
    Cheddad condemned the attack and praised the work of the off duty American soldiers.
    "The authorities are doing a great job and we also thank the NATO soldiers that stopped him on the train. It was a great job, they deserve the medals," he said.
    In El Saladillo, news of the train attack by a former resident was received with discomfort and residents declined to comment, saying the neighbourhood already had a bad reputation and it didn't need to be worsened.
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