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Six arrested in Belgium in connection with foiled Thalys train attack

Xinhua, June 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Six people have been arrested in the Brussels region in connection with the foiled attack on a Thalys high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris in August 2015, local media reported on Monday.

According to Belgian daily newspaper La Libre Belgique, four of the arrests were made in the Brussels district of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, one in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and another in Haren of the Belgian capital.

An investigating judge will decide later on Monday whether they should be kept in custody, the report added. No information about the identities of the six suspects has been made public.

The arrests are part of the investigation into a foiled attack on the Thalys train in the north of France on August 21 2015.

Ayoub El Khazzani was overpowered by two American soldiers after he boarded the train armed with a kalashnikov rifle, 300 bullets, an automatic gun and half a liter of petrol.

El Khazzani, who has Moroccan nationality, remains in police custody in France for attempted terrorist murder, La Libre Belgique added.

The report said he had stayed with his sister in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean shortly before the foiled attack. Endit