Four suspects arrested in Belgium for 2015 foiled Thalys train attack

The Belgian authorities arrested four persons on Monday in connection with a foiled terrorist attack on a Thalys high speed train between Amsterdam and Paris in August 2015, NU.nl reports.

Belgian police officers raided addresses in Molenbeek, Anderlecht and Laken. Searches were also done in the prisons in Andenne and Marche-en-Famenne. No explosives or weapons were found. Four people were arrested for questioning.

The foiled attack happened on August 21st, 2015 on a Thalys train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris. A heavily armed man got onto the train at a Thalys station in Brussels. He was quickly overpowered by four other passengers, three of whom were American soldiers who happened to be on the train. Four people were injured.

The man, Ayoub El Khazzani, last year confessed that he was a jihadist and wanted to commit an attack on the train. Before that he claimed that he never intended to hurt civilians, according to the newspaper.

Following the foiled attack, surveillance was increased on international trains and at train stations in the Netherlands.