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European countries to increase security checks on trains following attack

European ministers have agreed to increase security on key international rail routes and improve intelligence sharing after the thwarted gun attack on a French train.

Three Americans and a British grandfather managed to overpower a suspected Islamist gunman who opened fire on a high-speed train heading to Paris last week.

Moroccan national Ayoub El Khazzani has been charged with attempted murder of a terrorist nature and was remanded in custody after a hearing in the capital.

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French train gunman 'was known to authorities'

Forensic teams examine the carriage where the gunman opened fire. Credit: Reuters

A gunman who was overpowered by passengers on a French train is known to European authorities as a suspected radical Islamist if he has given his true identity, France's interior minister has said.

Two people were wounded during the struggle, in which three Americans and a British man disarmed and tied up the suspected terrorist.

Bernard Cazeneuve said the suspect's identity had not been confirmed, but said if he was telling the truth he is a 26-year-old Moroccan man who had been identified by Spanish authorities to the French security services in February last year.

After Spanish authorities had him under surveillance, he left for France in 2014, then travelled to Syria before returning to France once more, a counter-terrorism source told Reuters news agency.

Cazeneuve did not mention any travel to Syria, naming only Spain and Belgium as places of residence in the last year.

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European countries to increase security checks on trains following attack

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