There has
been praise for the two plain-clothed US soldiers who overpowered a gunman on
an express train between Amsterdam and Paris. Three people were wounded,
including one of the soldiers.
The attack on the high-speed Thalys train traveling between Amsterdam and Paris happened
early on Friday evening.
Alek
Skarlatos, a 22-year-old member of the US National Guard from Oregon, said his
friend, who is also in the military, had been injured while he grappled with
the gunman. Both were in plain clothes at the time.
"I
just got back from Afghanistan last month, and this was my vacation from
Afghanistan," Skarlatos said.
The
26-year-old gunman was armed with a Kalashnikov automatic weapon. After his
arrest he said he was of Moroccan origin. His motives are not yet known.
After the
attack, the Thalys train with 554 passengers on board was stopped at the
station in Arras, in northern France. All the passengers were interviewed
before continuing on with their journey. French actor, Jean-Hugues Anglade, who
appeared in the 1986 film "Betty Blue," was on board the train.
French antiterrorism authorities have launched an investigation into the attack |
French
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve went to Arras and commended the Americans:
"Without their courage, we would have surely faced a terrible
tragedy."
The US
White House Press Office said in a statement: "Echoing the statements of
French authorities, the president expressed his profound gratitude for the
courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including US service members,
who selflessly subdued the attacker."
President
François Hollande issued a statement Friday night saying that "everything
is being done" to determine what had happened on the train. The
investigation is being carried out by France's antiterrorism authorities.
The gunman
was reported to have boarded the train in Brussels where luggage does not pass
through X-ray machines or other forms of screening. There are often plain
clothed security officers on the trains and uniformed officers at the Gare du
Nord where the trains arrive in Paris.
jm/bw (AFP, Reuters)
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