A gunman who was overpowered by passengers on a train in France on Friday left Spain for France in 2014 and later travelled to Syria, a Spanish counter-terrorism source said on Saturday, although authorities were still trying to confirm his identity.
The French government has said he may be a 26-year-old Moroccan who had already been identified by Spanish intelligence services as a possible radical Islamist.
According to the Spanish counter-terrorism source, who declined to name the suspect, the gunman used to live in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, and appeared to have resided in the country for around a year.
"In 2014 he went to France, then to Syria, and he returned to France," the source added.