What happened during the attempted attack on a Paris-bound train in August 2015?

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On August 21, 2015, a militant named Ayoub El-Khazzani, who had ties to ISIL, attempted to carry out an attack on a crowded, high-speed passenger train traveling to Paris. El-Khazzani had smuggled an AK-47, a semiautomatic pistol, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition onto the train.1

A potential massacre was prevented when passengers, including two off-duty U.S. military personnel, intervened and subdued the attacker. French law-enforcement officials later linked the plot to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was also identified as a suspected mastermind behind the November 2015 Paris attacks.12