French prosecutors on Tuesday recommended a life sentence for the Moroccan who carried out the attempted terror attack on a Paris-bound train five years ago that was foiled by passengers. Ayoub El Khazzani has admitted that he boarded the Amsterdam-Paris high-speed Thalys train concealing an AK-47 automatic rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition, saying he was looking to attack US soldiers. Prosecutors also requested jail terms of eight to 30 years for three others suspected of aiding Khazzani and Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who Khazzani has said was the operation's chief. Abaaoud is believed to have been one of the planners behind several attacks in Europe, including the November 13, 2015 attacks in and around Paris. He was killed days later, when French police cornered him in a Paris suburb. Khazzani told the court earlier in the trial that he went to the toilet to prepare the attack but that he was in a bad state. Nevertheless, he took his pistol and Kalashnikov rifle out of his bag took and armed himself. When he emerged from the toilet, he ran into passenger Mark Moogalian and ended up shooting him in the back with his pistol when the English professor went to grab his rifle. Khazzani said he then saw Spencer Stone, a US Air Force serviceman who was on vacation with friends. "I aimed at his head... I could not do it. I cannot explain to you. It was too much....I let him grab me," he told the court. The prosecution argues that Khazzani failed to carry out a massacre on the train because of defective munitions and passengers who intervened to subdue him. The prosecution on Tuesday hailed those passengers as heroes. dh/pvh/jj