FOLLOW-UP – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  We are learning more about the terrorist who tried to attack passengers on a French train, an attack stopped by three brave Americans and British and French passengers.  From Fox: 

The man who boarded a high speed Paris-bound train armed with a Kalishnikov before being subdued by passengers was on the radar of authorities in at least three countries, had ties to radical Islam and may have traveled to Syria, authorities said.

A French official close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, identified the attacker to The Associated Press as Ayoub el-Khazzani, 26, who was known to authorities in France, Belgium and Spain.

Officials didn’t disclose a possible motive for the Friday attack, but Interior Minister Bernard Cazenueve said Spanish authorities had advised French intelligence about the suspect because he belongs to the “radical Islamist movement.” Three people were injured but no one died in the attack. Authorities have credited brave American, French and British passengers with stopping El-Khazzani, who they said was armed with the assault rifle, nine magazines, a pistol and a boxcutter.

El-Khazzani was being questioned by French counter-terrorism police who on Saturday who confirmed through fingerprints their suspicions that he was the same man who had been brought to their attention in February 2014, a French official told The Associated Press. French authorities said he had lived in the southern Spanish city of Algeciras, frequenting a mosque which is under surveillance there. He was transferred Saturday morning to anti-terror police headquarters outside Paris and could be held for up to 96 hours.

COMMENT:  The guy apparently was a walking time bomb, but we understand how difficult it is in Western democracies to keep people like this in detention unless they've actually committed a crime.  There will be more incidents like this.  As we saw in Chattanooga recently, we are not invulnerable.

August 23,  2015