Train attack suspect confesses after revelations in academic journal

After his weapons training in Syria, el-Khazzani said he was driven back to the Turkish border and told to await instructions in Istanbul, the source told CNN. After el-Khazzani was twice refused on board flights to Albania from Turkey because he did not have the necessary identity papers, his handler in Syria told him to await the arrival in Turkey of Bilal C. a young Algerian ISIS operative who had been dispatched by Abaaoud to find a way to infiltrate operatives through the refugee corridor running between Turkey, Greece and the Balkans.

Bilal C. told el-Khazzani to stay put, while he explored the routes. According to the report published by CTC Sentinel, “the scouting mission took Bilal C. from Syria to Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria. During his trip, the Algerian continuously informed Abaaoud on any open border crossings, waiting times, and arrival and departure routes.”

El-Khazzani said that a few days after Bilal C. came through Turkey his handler in Syria contacted him again to tell him another “brother” would be joining him in Turkey to make the trip. This was Abaaoud. Exploiting the refugee flows and Bilal C’s scouting, the two men then traveled into Europe along the migrant corridor to Hungary, before splitting up in Budapest and traveling separately to Brussels.

In the Belgian capital, Abaaoud and el-Khazzani went to ground in a small apartment, where el-Khazzani said he used to cook for a small group of ISIS terrorists that included the scout Bilal C., who had himself entered Hungary on July 16, 2015, according to the Hungarian investigation, before linking up with el-Khazzani in Vienna.

Soon after their arrival, Abaaoud told el-Khazzani and Bilal C. he had received orders from Syria indicating he and the Algerian ISIS scout needed to start psychologically preparing for an operation, but at that point, according to el-Khazzani, Bilal C. got cold feet and fled the apartment, making Abaaoud limit his time at the property anxious he would give them up to authorities.

Bilal C. was arrested in Germany a year later — in July 2016 — and is awaiting trial on charges of “supporting a terrorist organization.”

A week before the train attack, Abaaoud told el-Khazzani the operation was imminent and he would prepare everything for him. And then a few days later, Abaaoud told him the target was a Thalys train and his task was to attack Americans on board, el-Khazzani claimed.

El-Khazzani also made the seemingly far-fetched claim that Abaaoud had told him there would be three to five American soldiers in the first-class carriage on the train. There would have been little way for Abaaoud to have had such information ahead of time. (Abaaoud died in a dramatic police raid following the Paris attacks.)

Other ISIS operatives arrested in the West have shaped their accounts to suit their interests, complicating the task of investigators.