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How were the November 2015 Paris attacks connected to the attempted train attack in August 2015?

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Map of central Paris showing locations targeted during the November 13, 2015 attacks, marked with numbered circles. The map includes symbols for explosion and shooting locations and outlines the city boundary. A timeline on the left lists each attack site and event details, including Stade de France, Rue Alibert, La Casa Nostra, La Belle Equipe, Bataclan, Cafe Comptoir Voltaire, and Saint-Denis. — Paris attacks of 2015 Significant sites related to the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015.

The November 2015 Paris attacks and the attempted train attack in August 2015 were connected through the involvement of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was identified by French law-enforcement officials as the suspected mastermind behind the Paris plot.1

Abaaoud, a Belgian-born militant with extensive ties to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), was linked by investigators to the foiled August 21, 2015, attack on a high-speed passenger train. In that earlier incident, Ayoub El-Khazzani—a militant also associated with ISIL—attempted to carry out a massacre on a Paris-bound train before being subdued by passengers. Following the November 13 attacks, investigators discovered that Abaaoud had connected with several of the Paris attackers in the Brussels commune of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, further establishing the operational links between these acts of terrorism.21